Editing Misconceptions and urban legends about Transformers

Over the years, many '''misconceptions and urban legends''' have sprung up within ''Transformers'' [[fandom]], often resulting from such factors as fuzzy childhood memories, inaccurate catalog illustrations, and mistranslations of foreign material.

Some of these myths have since been mostly forgotten as the fandom moved on, but are being preserved here for historic purposes. Others still persist to this very day, and may even evolve into fully-fledged conspiracy theories.

==General misconceptions==
*'''''Transformers'' is (only) a cartoon from the Eighties that was brought back into vogue with the 2007 movie.'''

: A misconception usually held by casual fans or nostalgic adults is that ''Transformers'' went away some time around 1986 (or 1987, or 1988—pick your year). People who stumbled across a newer incarnation of the ''Transformers'' franchise before 2007 commonly assumed that it had only recently popped back up as an attempt to cash in on '80s nostalgia. From 2007 onwards, people who were (obviously) aware of the [[live-action film series]] commonly believed that it was the [[Transformers (film)|2007 movie]] that brought the franchise back from limbo. Neither assumption is correct.

:In fact, the [[Transformers brand|''Transformers'' brand]] has been continuous since 1984 (there was a brief gap between 1990 and 1993 as far as the United States market was concerned, but the brand still continued with new products in other markets). It includes many [[Franchises|lines of toys, cartoons and comics]] that span almost four decades, with no sign of stopping, as Hasbro considers it a core brand. Each line has experienced varying degrees of success, rebooting when its target audience gets too old or uninterested in the toyline and fiction. 

:Some of this misconception is based on the fact that most of the original audience stopped watching and following the franchise long before its initial US cancellation (as it wasn't "cool" to be kiddy once puberty hit). Without any exposure to the market, the toyline and the new cartoons, they simply assume that ''Transformers'' has sunk in popularity, quality and/or sales, since it's not what they remember. 

:It ''is'' true that ''Transformers'' hit a low point of popularity in the early 1990s, with the cancelation of Generation 1 and the unremarkable sales of ''[[Transformers: Generation 2 (toyline)|Generation 2]]''. But the successor ''[[Beast Wars: Transformers (toyline)|Beast Wars]]'' line re-established the brand for a new generation beginning in 1996, and ''Transformers'' has been a dominant toy franchise ever since. While it's true that the live-action movies caused a major hike in popularity for the brand, they didn't revive a long-forgotten franchise; rather, they merely turned a steadily successful toy series into a major worldwide multimedia phenomenon.
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*'''Generation 1 obviously has the best toys, cartoons and characters.'''

:Casual fans likewise tend to assume automatically that the original 1980s iteration of ''Transformers'' is the best and most successful line to date, with all other successors being unpopular and/or unsuccessful ventures.

:While it's hard to measure the overall success of every line in all its aspects, the original line has been surpassed in both quality and sales multiple times over (if not for warm-fuzzy nostalgia-feels in 80s kids). In factors such as realistic alternate forms, durability, articulation, action features, and complexity, various later toylines have all exceeded Generation 1. And while fiction can't be measured objectively, many fans will swear up and down by some of the later incarnations of ''Transformers''.

:Arguably, ''Transformers'' is in an endless cycle of creating [[true fan|new fans who share new opinions on what is "teh greatest"]].
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[[File:SteamhammerEnergonUniverse.jpg|upright=1.1|thumb|Not literally a waste of packaging material.]]
*'''"Repackaged" toys are ''literally'' unsold toys sent back to Hasbro, taken out of the old packaging, put into new packaging and then sent back to stores.'''

:Every so often, a ''Transformers'' toy line features seemingly identical toys in multiple different [[packaging]] versions, such as multi-packs containing toys that were previously available separately. In addition, some toy lines also feature [[rebranding|rebranded]] items, namely toys that were originally released under one line, but are later re-released as part of another line with virtually no changes to the toy itself, only the packaging it is available in. The final stages of the original ''[[Transformers: Universe (2003 toyline)|Universe]]'' line took the concept of "rebranding" to a new level, featuring numerous straight re-releases of toys from the since-ended ''[[Transformers: Energon (toyline)|Energon]]'' and ''[[Transformers: Cybertron (toyline)|Cybertron]]'' lines, among many others. Since then, it has been repeated with the 2006 ''[[Transformers: Classics|Classics]]'' line, the 2008 ''[[Transformers: Universe (2008 toyline)|Universe]]'' line, the 2010 ''[[Transformers (2010 toyline)|Transformers]]'' line and many others. Because a common [[fandom]] term for those releases is "repackages", a popular misconception claims that those toys are ''literally'' "repackages": namely, unsold toys sent back to Hasbro, taken out of their old packaging, put into new packaging and then sent back to (different) stores. (The same train of thought also—very rarely—suggests that "repaints", another common fan term for [[redeco]]s, are ''literally'' "[[repaint]]s", i.e. existing toys painted over in new colors, rather than new production runs from the same toolings using new plastic colors.)

:Needless to say, this theory is dubious for various reasons. Generally, old unsold toys are ''not'' sent back to Hasbro. They either [[Shelfwarmer|remain in the store]] until someone finally decides to buy them, or the store somehow dumps them, such as by selling them off to closeout chains. And even ''if'' Hasbro did regularly get sent back huge shipments of unsold toys, they'd be highly unlikely to go through the effort (and additional cost) of literally repackaging them. Hasbro confirmed this in January of 2009, stating that due to the toys being manufactured in Asia, it would be a waste of time and money to repackage them only to sell them at the same price-point.<ref>[http://www.sirstevesguide.com/index.php?categoryid=13&p2_articleid=1934 SirStevesGuide.com, Tri-Weekly Hasbro Q&A - January 30th]</ref> Thus, they are ''not'' repackaged old product, but new production runs of previous product. These days, this misconception should be much easier to dispel: Every toy now features a manufacturing date stamp etched into the figure, as well as a product code [[tampograph]]ed onto the figure, thus proving that a figure was manufactured more recently than its superficially identical predecessor.

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[[File:SmokesniperStarscream.jpg|upright=1.1|thumb|The similarities are astounding. Especially those that aren't there.]]
*'''A new toy that is vaguely reminiscent of an older toy is a retool of said toy.'''

:Hasbro likes to [[redeco]] toys a lot (usually to recoup the R&D costs for developing the original [[mold]]). They also like to release redecos of toys from older lines in newer lines. In some instances, Hasbro also don't just redeco a toy, they [[retool]] it (or create new toolings for new parts that replace parts of the old version of the toy)—sometimes to improve a feature or fix an error, but sometimes also to give the toy new features or [[gimmick]]s, or simply to make it different enough from the original version so owners of the original version would be interested in buying the "retool" as well.

:Some of those retools are comparably minor (such as [[Jazz (Movie)|Final Battle Jazz]] from the [[Transformers (2007 toyline)|2007 Movie line]]), whereas others can be pretty elaborate. Sometimes the retools are so elaborate that the line between "retool" and "new [[mold]]" gets blurred. The most drastic instances in this regard would be [[K-9]] from ''[[Beast Wars: Transformers (toyline)|Beast Wars]]'' (based on [[Wolfang (Maximal)|Wolfang]] from the same line) and [[Crumplezone (Cybertron)|Dark Crumplezone]] from ''Cybertron'' (based on the original ''Cybertron'' Crumplezone toy), both of which have most, if not ''all'' of their parts entirely retooled. Another borderline case would be the ''[[Transformers: Armada (toyline)|Armada]]'' [[Mini-Con]]s [[Mirage (Armada)|Mirage]] and [[Swindle (Armada)|Swindle]], which were released around the same time and are based on the same basic design, share a similar body structure and have very similar [[alternate mode]]s.

:However, sometimes fans ''definitely'' get too far decrying a new toy a "retool" (or "remold"). Toys that share some superficial design similarities, coupled with similar transformation schemes, are often mistaken for retools even though they're simply that: Similar toys based on the same general design, maybe even directly influenced by the older toy, but nothing more. For more examples, see: [[retool#Not actually a retool|retool]].

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*'''Hasbro is responsible for your local store not having the newest toys right now.'''

: Hasbro actually has almost nothing to do with distribution (when Product A arrives in Store B) beyond making sure the manufactured product leaves the factories and shipyards of China at the desired time. Once the items arrive on US shores, they are almost immediately sent from the ships to the distribution centers for the retail chains that ordered them. From there, it's more truck rides to various regional warehouses, which is all controlled by the retailers, not Hasbro. After that, the schedule for taking product from those warehouses and putting it on shelves is dictated by each chain's inventory system.

: It's ''conceivable'' that Hasbro could take more control of the situation, but that would require chains like Wal-Mart to release the vise-like death grip they have on manufacturers' nuts that lets them dictate how the system works—and they're sooooooo not doing that.

{{-}}{{anchor|Older collectors}}
*'''Hasbro should totally cater to the wishes of older collectors, as they purchase the most ''Transformers'' product.'''

: Fans would like to think they've got some sway over the direction of the [[Transformers brand|''Transformers'' brand]]. After all, they've been buying toys for many years (as opposed to the limited purchasing span of most children), and they buy many ''more'' toys than any individual child. And in truth, Hasbro does pay attention to the desires and discussions of its older buyers, even designing certain line segments like ''Alternators'' or ''Classics'' and its successors with collectors as the primary target audience.

: Collectors, however, simply can't compare to the vast numbers of children out there whose parents buy [[Transformer]]s for them. The bulk of ''Transformers'' product is purchased for and/or by young children, and if a company like Hasbro wants to stay in business and keep making money (and by extension, more toys), it must design and market its products accordingly. No accurate figures exist on the collector/children ratio, but estimates mentioned at BotCon panels range from around 10% to 20% of all purchases coming from older collectors—enough to be worth listening to, but not at all the driving force behind the brand. Past toylines have shown that betting ''too much'' on sales from adult collectors can be disastrous.

: Furthermore, it's not as though the [[fandom|fans]] speak with a unified voice. More often, for every fan pushing for one particular idea, there's another fan who thinks that same idea is boring or [[Ruined FOREVER|awful]].
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===Takara vs. Hasbro===
[[File:Cybertrontoy hasbro and takara vector primes.jpg|upright=1.66|thumb|''[[Transformers: Cybertron (toyline)|Cybertron]]'' [[Vector Prime]] features different color applications dependent on whether it was released in [[TakaraTomy|Takara]] or [[Hasbro]]'s market.]]
*'''Takara (alternatively, Hasbro) are ''solely'' responsible for designing, developing and manufacturing (all, or certain specific) ''Transformers'' toys.'''

: This was true only for the original [[The Transformers (toyline)|Generation 1 toys]], and possibly also the [[Transformers: Generation 2 (toyline)|''Generation 2'' toys]]. Most of the toys from 1984 to 1986 were imported (and, occasionally, slightly altered) versions of already-existing Japanese toys originally designed and released by [[TakaraTomy|Takara]]. Following that, Takara developed new toys both for the Japanese and the Western market, now specifically with ''Transformers'' in mind. The primary exceptions are a handful of toys licensed from other Japanese companies (Jetfire, Whirl, and Roadbuster, for example), and the 1986 toys for the [[The Transformers: The Movie|animated movie]], which were mostly based on designs by [[Floro Dery]].

: However, ever since 1988,<ref name="dunsay">[http://obscuretf.com/hhk/images/full/BC04Dunsay.jpg BotCon 2004 program guide interview with George Dunsay]</ref> most "main" line toys released both in Japan and the Western hemisphere (such as the [[Unicron Trilogy continuity family|Unicron Trilogy]], ''[[Transformers: Alternators|Alternators]]'', the [[Transformers (2007 toyline)|2007 Movie line]] and ''[[Transformers: Universe (2008 franchise)|Universe]]/[[Henkei! Henkei! Transformers (toyline)|Henkei! Henkei!]]'') have been designed and developed in cooperation between [[Hasbro]] (or its subsidiary [[Kenner]]) and [[TakaraTomy|Takara]] (now TakaraTomy). (For the specifics of this joint venture development process, see the article about [[toy]]s.)

: Still, numerous reasons have led some people to assume incorrectly that ''all'' ''Transformers'' toy lines were ''solely'' developed by only one of the two companies:

:*The Western public and mainstream media, naturally, tend to be unaware of the existence of Takara (TakaraTomy these days). It's therefore logical to assume that Hasbro, the company responsible for distributing Transformers toys outside Japan, is also solely responsible for developing and manufacturing the toys. The fact that Hasbro regularly chooses not to mention their Japanese business partner in official press releases and interviews hasn't exactly helped matters, either.

:*On the other hand, Western anime fans are used to Japanese companies being solely responsible for designing robot toys, which are then imported and sold by Western companies. For lack of better knowledge, those people then simply assume the same also applies to ''Transformers'' toys — namely, that Takara does ''all'' the design and engineering work on their own, and Hasbro is merely the Western ''distributor'' of those toys. The fact that the back of Hasbro's packaging for ''Transformers'' toys sports a small note saying "Manufactured under license from Takara Co., Ltd." (changed to "TOMY Company, Ltd." on more recent toys) is occasionally cited as "proof" that Takara is the sole manufacturer of ''Transformers'' toys as well. A long paper trail of evidence to the contrary<ref name="Hasbro Tour">[http://www.seibertron.com/events/gallery.php?event_id=70&size=0&start=272 Exemplary rundown] of the development process of ''[[Transformers: Cybertron (toyline)|Cybertron]]'' Leader Class [[Optimus Prime (Armada)/toys|Optimus Prime]], shown during the Hasbro tour at [[BotCon 2007]]. Of course, Hasbro just replaced the name "Takara" in some of the steps with "Hasbro" in order to convince fans that... yeah, riiiight.</ref> has not been able to convince those people of the flaws in their conspiracy theory — rather, some of them have even postulated the existence of a so-called "Hasbro PR machine", whose sole purpose is to convince ''Transformers'' fans that Hasbro has a larger part in the development of ''Transformers'' toys than is actually the case.<ref name="Propaganda">[http://toyboxdx.com/phorum/read.php?1,88668 ToyBoxDX thread with anime fanboys arguing that "Takara is an enormous toy '''manufacturing''' company. Hasbro doesn't manufacturer anything. The sole reason for its existence is for marketing the products of their partners and wholly-owned subs. Just to be clear here - Takara is bigger than Hasbro."] They wouldn't even believe that [[Joe Kyde]] actually worked at Hasbro. No kidding.</ref>

: That being said, there ''are'' indeed a few toys originally developed by either Hasbro or Takara without the other one's involvement, and then later picked up by the other company, but they're fewer than usually assumed: For Takara, those include the new molds for ''[[Transformers: Beast Wars (Japanese toyline)#1998 (Beast Wars II)|Beast Wars II]]'', ''[[Transformers: Beast Wars (Japanese toyline)#1999 (Beast Wars Neo)|Beast Wars Neo]]'' and ''[[Transformers: Robots in Disguise (2001 toyline)|Car Robots]]'', plus various mostly short-lived, collector-aimed, niche market lines (such as the new ''[[Robotmasters (franchise)|Robotmasters]]'' molds, the ''[[Smallest Transforming Transformers]]'', the ''[[Hybrid Style]]'' toys etc.); for Hasbro, those are mostly either toys originally based on fiction-based franchises that did not originate with Hasbro (such as ''[[Animorphs]]'' or the ''[[Star Wars (franchise)|Star Wars Transformers]]'' and their later successor, ''[[Transformers: Crossovers]]''), cross-brand lines ''within'' Hasbro where the Transformers toys only make up one part of the overall lineup (such as the [[Titanium Series]] and the [[Robot Heroes (toyline)|Robot Heroes]] figures) and a few very rare "main" line Transformers toys such as [[Grimlock (Energon)|Grimlock]], [[Swoop (Energon)|Swoop]], [[Alpha Quintesson]], [[Kicker Jones#Toys|Energon Kicker]] and [[High Wire (Armada)|High Wire]] from ''[[Transformers: Energon (toyline)|Energon]]''.

*'''Takara's Japanese-market releases are always of intrinsically better quality than their U.S. counterparts. (E.g., they have sweeter exclusives, and are always more show-accurate, have more accessories, and have tighter quality control.)'''
[[File:RMConvoy toy.jpg|thumb|right|upright=1.0|Let's never forget that Takara made ''this''.]]
: This one depends a bit on the speaker, as it can either be a genuine misconception, a matter of opinion, or at worst, [[Personal canon|willful]] [[True fan|snobbery]]. But, like any broad generalization, it does have some basis.

:*"Better quality" can refer to the fact that Japanese versions of individual toys sometimes have clear plastic instead of painted-on windows like [[Bumblebee (Movie)/toys|Movie Bumblebee]], or have vac-metallized parts where the equivalent U.S. release doesn't, like [[Optimus Prime (Armada)/toys|''Energon'' Optimus Prime/Grand Convoy]]. Or, "better" quality can refer to the fact that Japan is a less litigious society, with different toy safety laws, and Takara can thus give [[Optimus Prime (G1)/toys|Prime]] toys old-school long smokestacks, which are now shortened in the U.S. [[for safety reasons]]. These laws also mean that [[Megatron (G1)/toys|Masterpiece Megatron]] is freely available in Japan, but hard to get in the U.S. (the exact opposite of ''real'' handguns, ironically). In the various forms of [[Transformers: Generations (toyline)#Overview|CHUG]], Takara releases also consistently boast more paint applications (for example, many ''[[Transformers Unite Warriors|Unite Warriors]]'' figures had painted rims, while their ''[[Combiner Wars (toyline)|Combiner Wars]]'' counterparts went without), something that was ironically reversed in their version of the [[Transformers: Prime (toyline)#Takara Prime toyline|''Prime'' toyline]].

:*"More [[Show-accuracy|show-accurate]] decos" does have some basis, as Takara frequently releases its toys later than Hasbro does Stateside, and thus they are better able to reflect discrepancies between late-run changes to a character's coloration in a show (such as with the original [[Rattrap (BW)|Rattrap]] or [[Tidal Wave (Armada)|''Armada''{{'}}s Tidal Wave]]). The most extreme example of this was ''[[Beast Machines: Transformers (toyline)#2005 (Beast Wars Returns)|Beast Wars Returns]]'', the Japanese release of ''Beast Machines'', which was ''years'' later than in the U.S., allowing Takara to add a lot of the deco that was added to the characters by [[Mainframe Entertainment]] that was not accurate to the original toys. On the other hand, Takara sometimes has a tendency to go ''massively'' overboard in their ever-growing desire for "show-accurate" decos even on toys that haven't even been designed with the original [[character model|animation model]]s in mind. Just ask ''Unite Warriors'' [[Fireflight (G1)/toys#Unite Warriors|Firebolt]], [[Slingshot (G1)/toys#Unite Warriors|Sling]] and [[Drag Strip (G1)#Unite Warriors|Drag Stripe]].

:*"More accessories" mostly comes from the fact that ''some'' of Takara's releases have some extra accessories, but the only cases of this before the reissues were [[Fortress Maximus (G1)|Fortress Maximus]]'s two [[sword]]s, Megatron's sword and bullets (even though the Japanese release lacked the barrel, scope and stock extensions) and clear cases from the various cassettes. Japanese reissues have included additional accessories from the cartoon (the axe, chain mace, Energon cubes and gun mode Megatron in the ''[[The Transformers Collection|Transformers Collection]]'' reissues of Optimus and Megatron, Insecticons and Starscream, respectively, the Matrix from New Year's Convoy). Some ''[[Transformers: Energon (toyline)|Super Link]]'' releases came with [[redeco]]ed [[Energon weapon]]s as well. ''[[Henkei! Henkei! Transformers (toyline)|Henkei! Henkei!]]'' [[Hot Shot (G1)|Hot Rod]] came with two missile launchers and missiles not included with ''[[Transformers: Universe (2008 toyline)|Universe]]'' [[Hot Shot (Armada)/toys#Universe .282008.29|Hot Shot]] due to budget constraints, and featured the original tooling for the rear bumper for their inclusion. In contrast, ''Henkei! Henkei!'' [[Sideswipe (G1)/toys#Henkei! Henkei!|Lambor]] was ''lacking'' the supercharger engine accessory ''Universe'' Sideswipe came with—[[Hisashi Yuki]], the toy's designer, claims the intent was for only Sunstreaker to have it, with it being meant to differentiate the two, but Hasbro chose to give it to both.<ref name="generations2009">Interview with Hisashi Yuki in [[Transformers Generations 2009|''Transformers Generations 2009'' vol. 1]], [http://www.tfw2005.com/boards/transformers-news-rumors/223379-takaratomy-staff-interview-generations-2009-vol-1-translation.html English translation] at TFW2005.</ref>

:*"Sweeter exclusives" is more or less a mix of "the grass is always greener" and some occasional hits. The truth is, there ''are'' a lot of popular molds, characters, and entire toylines that only show up on Japanese shores or as part of special promotions. However, a similar number of such releases stay in international territories and never reach Japanese fans. American fans who are willing to pay import fees simply don't tend to notice when Japanese fans miss out unless they pay ''very'' close attention to what's being released there, and due to the simple way that news and hype works, flawed Japanese exclusives tend to simply fly under the radar.

:*"Tighter [[quality control]]" is a total myth. Takara products are manufactured under much the same production conditions as Hasbro's: Pretty much everything for both markets is made in China—in fact, according to Hasbro [[Australia]] representatives and Hasbro designer [[Eric Siebenaler]], ''all'' of the Transformers toys jointly developed between Hasbro and Takara/TakaraTomy are manufactured at factories contracted to the Japanese toy company. This means Takara is (at least indirectly) responsible for whatever quality control problems occur with Hasbro-released toys. Takara's standards of quality control for their domestically-released toys are just as likely to let mistakes creep through. Just ask any buyer of ''Henkei! Henkei!'' [[Thundercracker (G1)/toys#Henkei! Henkei!|Thundercracker]] how well his weapons stay attached to the arms. And let's not even get started on ''[[The Transformers: Masterpiece|Masterpiece]]'' [[Hot Rod (G1)/toys#Masterpiece|Rodimus Convoy's]] first production run.

:*The fields in which Takara genuinely excels Hasbro are comparably minor: Takara's [[stock photography]] generally tends to be more impressive than Hasbro's, without obvious mistransformations and awkward poses, and at the same time looks more representative of the actual toy due to less reliance on blatant digital touch-ups. Likewise, Takara's [[instructions]] tend to be more detailed and useful than Hasbro's.
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*'''Hasbro lost the rights to a lot of G1 Transformers names. That is why you see toys named "Autobot Jazz" or "Decepticon Brawl" these days. Takara is more competent than Hasbro and doesn't need to change their toys' names.'''

:That's not quite how name rights —aka [[trademark]]— work. There are indeed instances where another company has snatched a trademark, making it unavailable for Hasbro's use. The reason is because trademarks need to be consistently used in commerce (roughly once every year or so), or it could be considered "abandoned", making it open for grabs should another company try to claim it. "[[Hot Rod (G1)/toys|Hot Rod]]" was unavailable to [[Hasbro]] because Mattel held several similar trademarks, "[[Bluestreak (G1)/toys|Bluestreak]]" was too similar to Gendron's "Toledo 'Blue Streak'" trademark, and a company named Lanard held the trademark "Shockwave" until 2005. This prompted Hasbro to use substitute names for toys based on these characters, such as "Rodimus Major" and "Rodimus" for Hot Rod, "Silverstreak" for Bluestreak and "Shockblast" for Shockwave (Hasbro has since managed to reacquire all three aforementioned trademarks).

:Meanwhile, the names with prefixes such as "Autobot" or "Decepticon"? Those are usually non-compound single real words from the English language. Hasbro's legal department considers them too "generic" to be easily defensible as trademarks, hence the addition of prefixes such as "Autobot Jazz", "Decepticon Brawl "or "Constructicon Devastator" for better protection. This does ''not'' work with names already trademarked by another company–otherwise, [[Bandai]] could release a toy named "Gunpla Optimus Prime" tomorrow, and Hasbro couldn't do anything about it.

:For a while, it seemed like these trademark quibbles were limited to Hasbro, and [[TakaraTomy|Takara]] was somehow exempt due to a different market situation. However, the ''[[Henkei! Henkei! Transformers (toyline)|Henkei! Henkei!]]'' line saw the emergence of quite a few "Cybertron", "Destron" and "[[Stunticon (G1)|Stuntron]]" prefixes, implying that the trademark situation on the Japanese market was changing, and starting with the [[Transformers (2007 toyline)|''Movie'' line]], TakaraTomy (now adopting Hasbro names instead of their established Japanese-market names) began to use "Autobot" and "Decepticon" prefixes. With ''[[Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen (toyline)|Revenge of the Fallen]]'' and ''[[Transformers United|United]]'', TakaraTomy even used prefixes for names Hasbro has been able to use ''without'' prefixes.

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==Generation 1 Misconceptions==
===Toys===
{{anchor|BlueBluestreak}}
*'''A super-rare blue variant of Bluestreak was available during Generation 1.'''
[[File:G1 Bluestreak boxart.jpg|upright=0.85|thumb|You had this as a kid. The picture, that is. Not the toy.]]
:The very earliest [[The Transformers (toyline)|Generation 1]] toy [[catalog]]s used a photo of a blue-sided ''[[Diaclone]]'' Fairlady Z to represent [[Bluestreak (G1)/toys|Bluestreak]]; photographs of the same toy were used for Bluestreak's own [[Instructions|instruction booklet]]. The same blue-sided color scheme was also used on his [[Package art|box art]]; which was in turn shown on ''every'' 1984 instruction booklet as a sample tech spec.

:All this gave rise to a long-standing myth that a blue Bluestreak toy was sold under the ''Transformers'' brand during Generation 1, with some people going so far as to "remember" owning blue Bluestreaks as children, or at least knowing someone else who did. Adding to the confusion, ''{{w|ToyFare}}'' magazine had a long history of listing the supposed blue Bluestreak as a "foreign [[variant]]" in its monthly price guide.

:However, actual samples of a blue-sided Bluestreak in a sealed ''Transformers'' box have ''never'' appeared, and the [[Karl Hartman|collectors who have been at it since the very beginning]] and [[Jon Hartman|amassed ''insane'' numbers of rare Transformers]] have never seen one.

: Oddly enough, numerous other Transformers toys from that era were depicted in both catalogues and packaging art with colors they were never released in —[[Perceptor (G1)|Perceptor]], [[Astrotrain (G1)|Astrotrain]], the [[Constructicon (G1)|Constructicons]], for example— yet Bluestreak is the only one to be (mis)remembered in this manner, perhaps because his name is ''Blue''streak, so he had to have been blue, right?
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{{anchor|JapaneseCopyright}}
*'''Some Generation 1 toy molds were in use as long ago as 1974.'''
:Some ''[[Micro Change|Microchange]]''-derived toys have the text "©1974, 1983" or variations thereof stamped on them, with the actual ''Micro Change'' releases of the earlier figures even featuring blatant a "©Takara 1974" printed on the front of their packaging, and as a result are occasionally sold on eBay with descriptions such as "original 1974 [[Ravage (G1)/toys|Ravage]]". Likewise, the ''[[Diaclone]]''-derived toys also have two dates as part of their copyright markings, with the earlier one being invariably "1980".

:In reality, though, the first ''Microchange'' toys weren't even designed until the early 1980s. Those confusing double copyright dates are a result of the way Japanese IP law worked at the time. The earlier copyright date in question refers to the year the toyline in general, as well as its fictional backstory, was first launched (1974 in the case of the original ''[[Microman]]'' franchise, 1980 in the case of Diaclone), while the second one refers to the date the toy itself was created.
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{{anchor|Smokescreen38}}
*'''The racing number on Diaclone and Generation 1 Smokescreen's doors was changed to "38" for legal reasons, just like "Martinii", "Citanes", "Marlboor" and  "Alitalla".'''
[[File:G1 Smokescreen toy.jpg|upright=1.1|thumb|They really did a number on him.]]
:Several of the ''[[Diaclone]]'' figures that would end up serving as the basis for the ''Generation 1'' "[[Autobot Cars]]" were based on very specific real-life racing vehicles. Most of them featured sponsor decals, some of which advertized alcoholic beverages or cigarette brands. All of those sponsoring decals were subject to minimal modifications for their ''Diaclone'' releases, which were then carried over to their ''Transformers'' counterparts: Instead of "Martini" (a cocktail brand), the decals on No.14 "Porsche 935 Turbo" (which became the Autobot [[Jazz (G1)/toys#The Transformers|Jazz]]) were changed to "Martinii", with two "i"s at the end; the decals on No.16 "F-1 Ligier JS11" (which became the Autobot [[Mirage (G1)/toys#The Transformers|Mirage]]) read "Citanes" rather than "Gitanes" (a French brand of cigarettes), with a "C" instead of a "G"; one version of No.18 "Lancia Stratos Turbo" (which initially wasn't released as a Transformer, but later served as the inspiration for [[Exhaust]]) advertized a fictional company named "Marlboor" (which later became an [[Marlboor Dynamic|actual thing]]), rather than the real cigarette brand "Marlboro"; and the other version of the Lancia Stratos (which became the Autobot [[Wheeljack (G1)/toys#The Transformers|Wheeljack]]) didn't advertize the airline Alitalia, but a barely noticeable "Alitalla", with a double "l".

:It stands to reason, then, that the racing number "38" on No.11 "Fairlady Z Racing Type" (which became the Autobot [[Smokescreen (G1)/toys#The Transformers|Smokescreen]]) was similarly modified from the number "83" that is commonly seen in historic photos of the Electramotive Datsun 280ZX driven by Don Devendorf and Tony Adamowicz.

:In reality, though, the real life car ''has'' raced under both numbers, although admittedly, "38" ''is'' the more obscure number for this car compared to "83" since it was only used once, for the "6 Hours of Fuji" race on October 3, 1982.<ref name="38-1">[http://www.a2zracer.com/page84.html "Electramotive Years 1982"] at a2zracer.com.</ref><ref name="38-2">[https://teamobscurityracing.wordpress.com/2009/11/13/formula-silhouette-photo-find/ "Formula silhouette photo find."] at AusZoku.</ref><ref name="38-3">[https://www.racingsportscars.com/driver/results/Don-Devendorf-USA.html "All Results of Don Devendorf"] at Racing Sports Cars.</ref> Since that was the only time that particular car had participated in a race in Japan that year, this would explain why Takara might have considered that number to be more relevant for a Japanese audience.
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{{anchor|Soundwavebuttons}}
*'''The reissue Soundwave toys released by Takara are reverse-engineered from Soundblaster because the original molds are lost.'''
[[File:G1toy tfc soundwave and soundblaster.jpg|upright=1.2|thumb|Individual buttons. It's a lost art.]]
:Both the ''[[The Transformers Collection]]'' and ''[[Transformers Encore|Encore]]'' [[Soundwave (G1)/toys|Soundwave]] releases have different tape buttons and hinges than the ones found on the vintage Hasbro release. While the vintage Hasbro Soundwave had inset controls and an internal tape deck hinge, the Takara reissues have a large button block that serves as a pivot point for an external tape deck hinge. The supposed reason for this is the mold for the original versions of the buttons and door are lost or worn out, so a new single tape door was made to work with the Soundblaster mold.

:In fact, the buttons and hinge used on the reissue Soundwaves were originally a [[retool]]ed running change [[variant]] of Takara's original 1985 release of Soundwave. The further Soundblaster retool was based on the later Japanese version of Soundwave, as were the reissues. Presumably, the original mold in its original condition ''is'' lost - but this happened ''long'' before Takara retooled Soundwave into Soundblaster.
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{{anchor|MBOptimusPrime}}
*'''Optimus Prime's toy was originally not released in Europe due to a trademark conflict.'''
[[File:Jetfire-Dutch.jpg|upright=0.85|thumb|Oddly enough, Optimus Prime can still be seen in the background.]]
:When Hasbro subsidiary [[Milton Bradley]] launched the [[The Transformers (European toyline)|''Transformers'' line]] on the European continent in 1985, many prominent characters were missing, among them [[Optimus Prime (G1)/toys#Generation 1|Optimus Prime]]. Bizarrely, [[Jetfire (G1)|Jetfire]] was branded as the Autobot leader, and depicted as such in [[In the Transformers|a pack-in mini-comic]]. Furthermore, Dutch publisher [[Junior Press]] initially renamed Optimus Prime into "Jetfire" for all his appearances in their translated versions of the [[Marvel Comics|Marvel]] [[The Transformers (Marvel comic)|comic]]. Optimus Prime's toy was eventually released with the second wave of MB-branded ''Transformers'', and the Junior Press comics subsequently referred to him by his correct name.

:The reason for Optimus Prime's initial omission from the MB line-up was claimed to be due to a [[trademark]] conflict with Swedish kitchen utensil manufacturer "[http://www.optimusstoves.com/ Optimus]". Though initially accepted by the fandom, this claim doesn't hold up under scrutiny. A manufacturer of kitchen utensils ''usually'' does not operate in the "toys" field, thus making a trademark conflict unlikely to begin with. An editor's note in the Junior Press comic trying to explain the "Optimus"/"Jetfire" name situation claimed that the ''Transformers'' were originally ''two'' toy lines by different manufacturers in the United States, and MB had only released ''one'' of them in the Netherlands, while the "[[copyright]]" to the name "Optimus Prime" belonged to the other manufacturer. Which is of course horsehockey. Many years later, this editor's note (including the incorrect use of the term "copyright" rather than "trademark") was cited by a Dutch fan who added his own speculation (without marking it as such), thus spawning the urban myth that was subsequently accepted by the fandom.<ref name="optimusdutch">[http://www.fredsworkshop.com/veuro2.html The origin (?) of the "Optimus trademark conflict in Europe" rumor?] at The Complete Transformers Variants Page</ref>

:A much more likely explanation lies in that French company [[Joustra]] released their own version of the ''[[Diaclone]]'' line in many of the same markets as Milton Bradley's ''Transformers''. The theory suggests that because of Joustra's exclusive contract with [[TakaraTomy|Takara]], any toys from their ''Diaclone'' line-up were initially off-limits for Milton Bradley's ''Transformers'' line-up.<ref name="mijofive">[http://20thcenturytoycollector.com/mb-transformers-part-5/ Mijo's "MB Transformers: Part 5" article] at 20th Century Toy Collector</ref> A related theory suggests that Joustra's parent company, Ceji, got into financial trouble at the time, prompting them to sign a deal with Milton Bradley allowing them to use their existing (but still unsold) ''Diaclone'' stock released in ''Transformers'' packaging, which could explain why the second wave of MB-branded ''Transformers'' matches up almost perfectly with Joustra's ''Diaclone'' line-up.<ref name="mijofour">[http://20thcenturytoycollector.com/mb-transformers-part-4/ Mijo's "MB Transformers: Part 4" article] at 20th Century Toy Collector</ref>
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{{anchor|OverbiteSparkabots}}
*'''The Generation 1 Seacon Overbite was released under the name "Jawbreaker" in some European markets, and the Sparkabots were sold as "Sparkler Mini-Bots".'''
[[File:JawbreakerComic.jpg|thumb|upright=1.6|UK comic exclusive name variant!]]
[[File:Model sheets G1 Guzzle Fizzle Overbite Snaptrap.jpg|thumb|upright=0.7|Sparklercons? Firebots? Firesparklers? [[BotCon|Botcon]]s?]]
:In [[Enemy Action!|issue 152]] of the Marvel UK comics, the first appearance of the [[Seacon (G1)|Seacons]], [[Overbite (G1)|Overbite]] was called "Jawbreaker", a name repeated in his appearance in [[Salvage!|issue 160]] and in an "A to Z" profile in "[[Transformers Annual 1989]]". Likewise, the [[Sparkabot]]s were consistently referred to as "Sparkler mini-bots" (spelled with a hyphen, and a capital letter only for the word "Sparkler") in the introductory paragraphs for several issues) beginning with their first Marvel UK appearance in, once again, issue #152. In the early days of online fandom, American fans concluded that this had to mean that those toys had been released under different names in Europe—which is not ''entirely'' unfounded, as Transformers often got renamed in Canada and Italy, and many toys released in Europe after the line had been canceled in the US had multiple concurrently used names, depending on which countries the packaging they were sold in was intended for.

:However, existing specimens of packaged toys confirm that the Seacon toy was indeed called "Overbite" as per normal for all its European releases. This was further corroborated by the [[Letters page (Marvel UK)|letters page]] in [[City of Fear!|issue #164]] of the UK comic, which featured a question by a confused (British) reader regarding the discrepancy between the toy's name and the character's name in his UK comic appearances (resulting in a made-up-on-the-spot explanation from the Marvel staff to reconcile both names). Adding to the confusion was the letters page in [[A Savage Circle|issue #327]] from late 1991, which stated that Jawbreaker was his British name and Overbite his American name. By this time, the toy was no longer on sale, and the character had long disappeared from the comic. Apparently whoever answered the letters at this point was not very well-informed, and thus contributed to, or possibly even ''started'' the myth the begin with.

:Meanwhile, things were even more confusing in other parts of Europe: Contemporary toy ads from the Netherlands applied the name "Sparkler mini-bots" to the ''[[Firecon]]s''<ref name="ads">[http://20thcenturytoycollector.com/posts/2012/05/01/transformers-toy-ads-from-the-1980′s-part-2/ "Transformers toy ads from the 1980's – Part 2"] at 20th Century Toy Collector.</ref>, while a [[multilingual packaging|bilingual]] [[pack-in material|pack-in]] [[catalog]] included with the 1988 toys available in European French/Dutch packaging used "Sparkler mini-bots" as a super-category for ''both'' the Sparkabots ''and'' the Firecons. Meanwhile, in Germany, [[Condor Verlag]] not only published translated versions of both Marvel US and Marvel UK comics in its ''[[Transformers Comic-Magazin]]'', but also featured additional text stories that were unique to Condor, which were all over the place when it came to naming the subgroups, alternating between "Sparkabots" and "Sparkler Minibots" (though consistently spelled without a hyphen) for the Autobot subgroup, while sometimes "Sparkler Minibots" was also used used as a super-category for both the Sparkabots ''and'' the Firecons. And then the text story from [[Transformers Comic-Magazin issue 22|issue #22]] (which was mostly recycled from [[Transformers Comic-Magazin issue 5|issue #5]], which just called the Autobot subgroup "Sparkabots") suddenly mentioned a Decepticon subgroup named "''Sparkler-Cons''", and then referred to the "Sparkler Minibots" as a ''Decepticon'' subgroup that existed ''alongside'' the Firecons, ''explicitly'' opposing the Autobots' Sparkabots. (Interestingly, the story from [[Transformers Comic-Magazin issue 2|issue #2]] also referred to the Seacon as "Overbite".)

:So, why ''did'' the UK stories identify the character as "Jawbreaker", and the Sparkabots as "Sparkler mini-bots", for that matter? The answer was unknown until 2016, when a couple of early internal [[character model|model sheets]] were offered on [[eBay]]: Overbite's model sheet has his name crossed out, with "Jawbreaker" written below it. Likewise, the Sparkabots were identified as "Sparkler Mini-Bots", while both Overbite/Jawbreaker and Seacon leader [[Snaptrap (G1)|Snaptrap]] were mistakenly categorized under "''Sparkacons''/Sparkabots/Firecons".<ref name="modelsheets">[http://www.allspark.com/forums/topic/93711-more-unseen-tftm-designs-plus-some-early-colors-and-some-show-design/?p=3191211 Early model sheets] at The Allspark.</ref> It's very likely that Marvel UK writer [[Simon Furman]] may have used these model sheets (or similar reference materials) with the non-final names on them. The Overbite toy's instructions, as well as his on-packaging [[bio]], still refer to his ''weapon'' as a "jawbreaker cannon" (spelled with a lowercase "j", thus implying that it was meant as a mere descriptive term, rather than an official ''name''), and he himself is also called "Jawbreaker" at one point in the [[Piranacon (G1)|Piranacon]] assembly instructions, while his weapon mode for Piranacon is named "Jawbreaker weapon". The ''[[The Transformers Universe (Marvel)|Universe]]''-style profile page for Overbite published in issue [[Skin Deep|#59]] of the Marvel US series calls his weapon a "jawbreaker cannon", as well as the aforementioned "A to Z" profile from the 1989 UK Annual, also call his weapon a non-capitalized "jawbreaker cannon".

:By the time the Sparkabots's sole apperance in [[Ca$h and Car-nage!|issue #46]] of the US series and the Seacons' appearances in issues [[Club Con!|#47]] and [[Cold War!|#49]] were reprinted in the UK title (in issues #192-193, #194-195 and #206-207, respectively), Marvel UK had seemingly become fully aware of the naming discrepancy. Thus, Overbite's name was left unchanged in order to maintain consistency with the toy's name, rather than having it changed to conform to the character's earlier UK appearances. Additionally, the introductory paragraphs for issues #192 and #193 used the US name "Sparkabots" (which wasn't even used in the story itself), while issue #195's introductory paragraph also referred to the Seacon by the name "Overbite". For whatever reason, the aforementioned A to Z from the 1989 Annual, which was published about five months after the first letter that pointed out the naming discrepancy was published in issue #164 of the main series, still used the outdated name. One year later, Simon Furman had presumably received more accurate information, and thus Overbite referred to himself by his correct name, rather than "Jawbreaker", in one of his last appearances in a UK-exclusive story, "[[Dreadwing Down!]]" from ''[[Transformers Annual 1990]]''.
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{{anchor|UKexclusives}}
*'''Some toys were exclusively (or predominantly) available only in the United Kingdom/Netherlands.'''
[[File:Euro Classic Fireflight Breakdown.jpg|thumb|right|upright=1.5|Hardly "exclusive" to one particular country.]]
:During the early days of the Transformers online fandom, most of the active European fans in English-language forums were based in the UK and Netherlands. So when information about non-US toys (or toy variants) was spread, there simply were no fans from Germany or France around to confirm that the toys in question had also been officially available in their respective countries. (Although to be fair, it's quite possible that some toys, such as the [[Milton Bradley]]-branded Generation 1 toys, were indeed released in bigger quantities in the Netherlands than in Germany or France.)<ref name="mbpart6">[http://20thcenturytoycollector.com/mb-transformers-part-6/ "MB Transformers: Part 6"] at 20th Century Toy Collector.</ref>

:As a result, numerous toys like the red [[Tracks (G1)#Toys|Tracks]] and [[IGA]] Mexican-market Transformers (imported under [[parallel import|dubious circumstances]]) got labeled as "Netherlands-only", when they actually saw release in at least a half-dozen countries. Meanwhile, post-US-cancellation Transformers like the [[Action Master Elite]]s, "[[Classics (Europe)|Classics]]" reissues, [[Turbomaster]]s, [[Obliterator]]s, etc, were (and sometimes still are) often referred to as "UK exclusives", even though all of them were available in multiple countries, including Canada and Australia!

:In reality, there are ''very'' few toys actually exclusive to a single European country. The first ''genuine'' "UK exclusives" were a set of multi-packs from the 2007 [[Transformers (film)|''Transformers'' live action movie]] [[Transformers (2007 toyline)|toyline]], but the toys themselves were identical to the US releases. Meanwhile, other multi-packs or minor variants of toys from the 2007 movie toyline that were available in the UK but not the US were also available in other places, such as Japan, Hong Kong, Australia or other European countries again.
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{{anchor|GreenTrailbreaker}}
*'''A green variant of Trailbreaker was available in some European countries.'''
:This belief seems to stem from the fact that [[IGA]]'s Mexican version of [[Hoist (G1)|Hoist]] (which, like most Mexican Transformers, was widely available on the European gray market circa 1989, as mentioned above) used the same head sculpt as [[Trailbreaker (G1)|Trailbreaker]]. But like the "Blue" Bluestreak, no samples of an actual green version of the Trailbreaker mold actually sold ''as'' "Trailbreaker" have been found.
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====''Generation 2''====
{{anchor|G2insignias}}
*'''The ''Generation 2'' Autobot and Decepticon insignias were originally created by Hasbro UK, whose license for using the original faction insignias owned by Hasbro US had expired.'''
[[File:G2AutobotInsignia.png|thumb|upright=1.0|Probably ''not'' the result of a dispute between Hasbro US and Hasbro UK.]]
:The first half is ''maybe'' true, the second half certainly isn't. While the new Autobot and Decepticon faction [[insignia]]s were popularized by the ''Generation 2'' line, said line didn't start in Europe until 1994, a year later than in the US. Instead, the ''Transformers'' brand had continued in Europe even after its cancellation in the United States in 1990 (see the page for the [[The Transformers (European toyline)|European toyline]] for more details), and new European-"exclusive" figures were still being released in 1993, many of which were later re-released in [[rebranding|rebranded]] ''Generation 2'' packaging in Europe in 1994, while some of them were also made available (including some color, name and faction changes) under the ''Generation 2'' line in the United States in 1993. It was those designed-for-Europe 1993 pre-''Generation 2'' figures that had first featured the new Autobot and Decepticon insignias on their packaging, and a popular myth claims that they had become a necessity for the European market due to Hasbro UK and Hasbro US being legally considered distinct entities under international law, and Hasbro UK alternatively didn't want to continue paying their parent company the fee for being allowed to use these symbols, or the license for using them had expired.<ref name="euhist">[https://tfarchive.com/fandom/features/thirtieth-anniversary/?s=countdown-04-european-history "European History"] at The Transformers Archive.</ref>

:The holes in this theory are legion: First of all, Hasbro US ''didn't actually register the original Autobot and Decepticon insignias as trademarks with the United States Patent and Trademark Office until 2002''. That was also the same year when those insgnias were first claimed as trademarks on the toys' packaging. How, then, could Hasbro US, assuming it was indeed a distinct legal entity, enforce those insignias as trademarks by 1993, let alone ''internationally''? Why exactly would the UK Patent Office be enforcing the trademarks of a (supposedly) foreign company that didn't do business in the UK? In fact, why would ''anyone'' be enforcing trademark claims against Hasbro UK on behalf of Hasbro US? And why would this only affect the faction insignias? Wouldn't the names "Transformers", "Autobot" and "Decepticon" be equally subject to those alleged licensing fees?

:A much more likely explanation is that the faction insignias were changed for the same reason the "Transformers" title logo was changed to a new version (both in the US and Europe) in 1989, along with a major redesign of the toys' packaging, and why there had been another change to the packaging design and "Transformers" title logo for the European releases in 1992: To "refresh" the overall presentation of the brand, making everyhing look "new" and different for marketing reasons. Now whether the new insignias were originally created by Hasbro US for the ''Generation 2'' line and were simply applied to the European 1993 toys first for the sake of consistency, or whether they had indeed been created by Hasbro UK and Hasbro US just liked them so much they decided to adopt them for the ''Generation 2'' line, is up for debate.
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{{anchor|KBG2Devastator}}
*'''The orange ''Generation 2'' Constructicons were exclusive to KB Toys.'''
[[File:G2Devastator toy.jpg|upright=1.66|thumb|Its a exclusive!?{{sic}}]]
:In 1993, Hasbro reissued the [[Constructicon (G1)|Constructicons]] under the ''Generation 2'' line. The initial (and more common) versions saw the original ''Generation 1'' figures' green plastic changed to yellow, while a later, rarer version featured an orange plastic color for the entire team instead. A popular rumor, which is also propagated by many an [[eBay]] seller, claims that the orange versions were [[exclusive|exclusively]] available at [[KB Toys]] (formerly "Kay Bee") in the United States.

:No substantial evidence supporting this rumor has ever surfaced. It should be pointed out, though, that store exclusives were still fairly uncommon prior to ''[[Beast Wars: Transformers (toyline)|Beast Wars]]'', with the only confirmed example being the [[Classic Pretender]]s being sold without their [[Pretender]] shells under the name "[[Legends (G1)|Legends]]", exclusive to [[Kmart]].

:Since the packaging for the orange versions is identical to that used for the yellow versions, down to the UPC barcodes, it is very likely that Hasbro didn't actually consider the orange versions as separate products, but as mere [[variant#Running changes|running change color color variants]], just like the ''Generation 2'' versions of the [[Dinobot (G1)|Dinobot]]s had been available in there different colors each.

:Also, since some people insist having purchased the orange Constructicons at other stores such as Mills Fleet Farm, the most likely explanation is that KB Toys was merely the chain that ordered the largest bulk of them, thus leading to the faulty perception that they were "only" available at KB Toys. Additionally, one has to understand that in the early days of the online Transformers [[fandom]], when the latter consisted entirely of the text-only usenet news group [[alt.toys.transformers]] and long before official announcements of new toys by Hasbro via social media, it was anything but uncommon for people to assume every other newly-found figure to be "exclusive" to whatever chain they were first discovered at by default.

====''Alternators''====
{{anchor|AltYellowTracks}}
*'''A yellow version of ''Alternators'' Tracks was released to North American stores (but then recalled by Hasbro).'''
[[File:YellowTracks.jpg|upright=0.6|thumb|Only in Japan, baby.]]
:When [[Hasbro]] (and [[TakaraTomy|Takara]]) originally announced the ''[[Transformers: Alternators|Alternators]]'' version of [[Tracks (G1)|Tracks]] in 2004, the toy's [[Alternate mode|vehicle mode's]] primary color was yellow. This caused the ire of a significant portion of the fandom, which insisted that the toy had to be ''blue'', like its [[The Transformers (toyline)|Generation 1]] predecessor.

:Hasbro eventually confirmed at [[OTFCC 2004]] that the initial idea had been to release the toy in yellow first, and then later as a running change [[variant]] in blue, like Takara would ultimately do. However, Hasbro had encountered problems at the test shot stage, where it became evident that some of the toy's innards were shining through the yellow plastic. As a result, plans for a release of the yellow version were scrapped, and it was decided to release the blue version from the get-go.

:Rumors started circulating that some stores (usually [[Walmart]]) had indeed received a shipment of the toy, but were then asked by Hasbro to send back the entire batch. Naturally, no substantial evidence has ever surfaced to back up these claims. And while toys may occasionally be recalled [[for safety reasons]], it's highly doubtful that "aesthetics" would be enough of a reason to warrant an expensive product recall.
:The only "packaged" versions of a yellow ''Alternators'' Tracks we ever got to see were internet pranks of the "yellow ''Binaltech'' Tracks in photoshopped Hasbro box" variety. Which, of course, didn't help matters at all.
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{{anchor|AltWindchargerbarrel}}
*'''Hasbro omitted ''Alternators'' Windcharger's gun barrel for safety reasons.'''
[[File:WindchargerOverdrive.jpg|upright=1.67|thumb|Castrated at the request of Honda.]]
: When the first stolen [[Prototype|test shots]] of ''[[Transformers: Alternators|Alternators]]'' [[Windcharger (G1)#Alternators|Windcharger]] surfaced in 2004, the toy sported an extraordinarily long gun barrel (which doubled as the [[Alternate mode|vehicle mode]]'s drive shaft). The toy was ultimately released without the barrel, which was not shown or mentioned anywhere on the packaging or in the instructions. Indeed, Windcharger's weapon accessory was officially identified as a "shield" on the back of the packaging (in addition to the actual, ragtop roof shield). [[TakaraTomy|Takara]], on the other hand, later released their own ''Binaltech'' version of the toy (named [[Overdrive]]) with the full barrel, prominently shown in the official promotional photos.

:The initial fan theory upon seeing the barrel-less toy was that Hasbro had gutted it for safety reasons, under the notion that the long barrel might pose a choking hazard. Even though this was refuted by actual experts on toy safety standards, the rumor still persisted. An official response from Hasbro's customer service department to an e-mail inquiry (published on a fan site's message board) confirmed that the reason for the barrel's omission was "so the accessory would not look like a weapon".<ref name="Windcharger gun barrel">"http://forums.tformers.com/talk/index.php?showtopic=13088 Response from Hasbro's customer service department regarding the lack of Alternators Windcharger's gun barrel.</ref> Eventually, Hasbro (in the presence of Takara representatives) would confirm the full story at [[BotCon 2005]]: It had indeed been Honda, specifically their North American branch, that had asked to remove the gun barrel and all references to "weapons" from the toy, its packaging and included paperwork. Honda's Japanese department, on the other hand, had no such concerns, which is why Takara were able to release the ''Binaltech'' version with the barrel intact.

:Despite this official statement by Hasbro, the myth still persists, and has actually since evolved into a conspiracy theory, which postulates that Hasbro ''deliberately lied'' to its fans in order to shift blame to Honda rather than admitting to have made that decision themselves in order to conform to safety standards. Which is mindbogglingly absurd.
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====''Masterpiece''====
*'''''Masterpiece'' Convoy 1.0 has more diecast parts than 20th Anniversary Optimus Prime/''Masterpiece'' Convoy is made almost entirely out of diecast/20th Anniversary Optimus Prime is made entirely out of plastic.'''
:This misconception was started by now defunct Hong Kong-based online retailer Action-HQ<ref name="plasticahq">[http://tformers.com/transformers-20th-anniversary-optimus-prime-plastic/2150/news.html "20th Anniversary Optimus Prime Plastic?"], November 2003.</ref> and ''might'' have been extrapolated from the ''[[Transformers: Alternators|Alternators]]'' toys, which are made entirely out of plastic (except for the rubber tires) for their Hasbro releases, whereas their Japanese ''Binaltech'' counterparts feature a few parts made out of [[die-cast|die-cast metal]].

:In fact, however, the amount of die-cast metal parts versus injection-[[mold]]ed plastic parts is the same between 20th Anniversary [[Optimus Prime (G1)/toys|Optimus Prime]] and his Japanese ''[[The Transformers: Masterpiece|Masterpiece]]'' Convoy counterpart. The only differences between the two toys (not counting the packaging) are the shortened smokestacks for Hasbro's 20th Prime and the addition of painted battle damage that is missing from the Takara version.

====''Transformers Collection''====
[[File:G1 Vol.1 Issue2 1.jpg|thumb|upright=0.55|A solicitation of then upcoming Takara reissues? Not really.]]
*'''Takara's ''Transformers Collection'' had something to do with Dreamwave.'''
:In 2002, Takara launched their series of [[Generation 1 reissues]] named ''[[The Transformers Collection|Transformers Collection]]'', also commonly referred to as "bookbox reissues" or even "Dreamwave reissues" among fans. The reason for that is simple: The [[package art]], especially for early releases such as [[Jazz (G1)/toys|Meister]] or [[Prowl (G1)/toys|Prowl]], was directly taken from the covers of and promotional posters for [[Dreamwave Productions|Dreamwave's]] first ''[[Prime Directive|Generation One]]'' mini-series drawn by [[Pat Lee]]. A common misconception among fans at that time was that Takara was coordinating their reissues with Dreamwave. Some even tried to predict upcoming reissues based on the existing Dreamwave covers. Yet [[Mirage (G1)|Mirage]] and [[Sunstreaker (G1)/toys|Sunstreaker]] never materialized.

:In fact, probably the main reason why Takara recycled Pat's Dreamwave artwork of those characters for the [[packaging]] of their reissues was its coincidental availability: The artwork had already been created and paid for, so why commission new art when they could just use what already exists? Furthermore, only about half of the TFC reissues actually sported "Dreamwave" package art, whereas the rest ''did'' use newly-commissioned art drawn by Japanese artist [[Hirofumi Ichikawa]], who has never in his life worked for Dreamwave and had been drawing in this style long before Pat Lee rose to his brief "superstar artist" fame.
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====''Generations''====
*'''The "Generation 1" characters featured in ''[[Studio Series]]'' are branded under the "''Studio Series'' 86" subline.'''
:This myth originates from leaked Walmart listings appending "86" to the end of the toyline's name, which led to the misunderstanding that the ''The Transformers: The Movie'' characters sold in ''Studio Series'' are branded differently from the rest of the line (an unaware editor on {{SITENAME_SHORT}} may have helped propagate this misconception).

:Aside from having the "86" prefix on their ID numbers, the ''Studio Series'' G1 characters are branded exactly the same as the live-action film characters sold alongside them. However, the term "''Studio Series'' 86" has stuck around as [[fandom]] terminology for those wanting to distinguish between the two continuities sold within the same toyline.

===Fiction===
====''The Transformers cartoon''====
*'''The original ''The Transformers'' series was redubbed anime which originated in Japan, just like ''Battle of the Planets'', ''Voltron'', ''Robotech'' and other such shows screened in the '80s.'''
[[File:TFG1.JPG|right|upright=1.1|thumb|Toransufōmā!]]
: Although most moderate-to-hardcore fans are well aware that this is a fallacy, there are those more casual fans (or those who have not rewatched the original ''Transformers'' cartoon since childhood) who are under the misconception that [[The Transformers (cartoon)|''The Transformers'']] was an anime.

: Although the original toyline and thus the characters' basic visual designs were taken from Japanese-originated products, the original characters, names, factions and entire story premise of the whole ''Transformers'' franchise were developed in the United States by [[Hasbro]], [[Marvel Comics|Marvel]] and eventually [[Sunbow Productions|Sunbow]]. Although the animation was farmed out to [[Toei|Japanese]] (and later also [[AKOM|Korean]]) [[TMS Entertainment|studios]], the writing and original voice recording of [[The Transformers (cartoon)|all four seasons of the original series]] plus ''[[The Transformers: The Movie|The Movie]]'' was entirely done in America.

: This misconception probably stems from distant childhood memories of the cartoon, the fact that shows like the aforementioned ''Robotech'' were redubbed anime and the ''Transformers''' obvious Japanese influences. This ''may'' also be due to passing exposure to [[Transformers: Robots in Disguise (2001 cartoon)|the 2001 ''Robots in Disguise'' cartoon]] and the [[Unicron Trilogy]] shows which, viewed as an adult, are ''very'' obviously redubbed anime.

: This is in part related to the misconception that '''all''' ''Transformers'' toys are ''solely'' designed, developed and manufactured by [[TakaraTomy|Takara]], and all [[Hasbro]] ever does is to put them in new packaging and distribute them in the Western market (see above). Because this is true for other Japanese robot toylines, and therefore it must also apply to ''Transformers''.

: However, there's actually a ''little'' bit of truth to this misconception; since the G1 cartoon is an animated series made by Japanese studios, one could feasibly call it an anime; as "anime" is only a word to describe any form of animation in Japan, much like the word "cartoon" is here in the West, and ''not'' a term for a specific genre.
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*'''Jazz was written out of the series due to the death of his voice actor.'''
: [[Jazz (G1)/Generation 1 cartoon continuity|Jazz]] conspicuously survives the events of ''[[The Transformers: The Movie]]'', yet went on to make no speaking appearances in the third season of the cartoon. As his voice actor, [[Scatman Crothers]], passed away of lung cancer in 1986, it is common for fans to assume that the latter caused the former. This isn't hurt by the fact that fellow Autobot and film survivor [[Cliffjumper (G1)/Generation 1 cartoon continuity|Cliffjumper]] also vanished due to issues involving [[Casey Kasem|his own voice actor]], nor by the fact that one of Jazz's only appearances involved him seemingly being referred to as "[[Munka Spanka]]." 

: However, the dates simply don't match up: Crothers's death happened on November 22, long after the third season had begun airing. In fact, by that point, the only remaining episodes were the two parts of "[[The Return of Optimus Prime, Part 1|The Return of Optimus Prime]]", both of which aired months after the rest of the season. Add in the fact that any dialogue for the episodes would have been recorded months in advance, and the idea that Crothers dying affected the writing process becomes borderline impossible. The more likely answer is that Jazz stopped appearing, like much of the Season 1 and 2 cast, because his toy was no longer on shelves.
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*'''''The Headmasters'' was going to be dubbed into English and shown in America.'''
: In America, "Season 4" consisted of "The Rebirth", a 3-episode mini-series. In Japan, "The Rebirth" was ignored, and a full-fledged series titled ''The Headmasters'' continued the story instead. Rumors once swirled in the fandom of an American-led dub of ''The Headmasters'' series; the dub was largely finished, goes the story, till the materials were lost in a warehouse fire.

: Given the meandering pace of the series (common for Japanese shows but anathema to American sensibilities), the presence of numerous characters who had no toy equivalent on US shelves, the incompatibility with the "[[Nebulan]]" head characters, the number of Japanese cultural references, and the very existence of "[[The Transformers (cartoon)|The Rebirth]]", this rumor seems unlikely on the surface.

: More to the point, no official confirmation or other evidence has ever surfaced to back it up. In all likelihood the rumor was probably a {{w|Chinese whispers|Chinese Whisper}} from the fact that the laughably-bad English language [[Omni Productions]] dub was screened on UK satellite TV during the 1990s.
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*'''Transformers were meant as a "genderless" race. Arcee and the other female Transformers were added to the brand because feminists complained about the Transformers all being male.'''
: When [[Bob Budiansky]] was assigned to work out the character details for the toys, he initially intended some of them to represent female characters, like [[Ratchet (G1)|Ratchet]]. However, he was not given permission by [[Hasbro]] to include females because the company feared it would have a negative impact on the sales of those toys.<ref>[http://rustingcarcass.yuku.com/topic/954 Rusting Carcass interview]</ref> Budiansky complied, and in later years, would even pen [[Recipe for Disaster!|a story]] for the Marvel comic in which the Transformer race was stated to have no concept of gender.

:[[The Transformers (cartoon)|The cartoon]] was a different story. Since television requires a bigger investment than comics, but also offers the potential for a much better payoff, it is of interest for a TV network to broadcast material that reaches the highest possible demographic. To this end, very early in its development, writer [[Jeffrey Scott]] penned a [[production bible]] which included original female Transformer characters as part of an effort to sell the series to TV Network CBS. When it was decided to produce the series for syndication rather than for a network, new story editors [[Bryce Malek]] and [[Dick Robbins]] dropped this idea, and the series went on to star an exclusively-male cast of robots. However, in late 1984, while working on the early story development for ''[[The Transformers: The Movie]]'', writer [[Ron Friedman]] argued for the inclusion of a female Autobot in the story, on the basis that he "had a daughter who love[d] this stuff." Friedman won his argument, Arcee was added to the movie, and in 1985, female Autobots were incorporated into the series in advance of the film's release, with the introduction of [[Elita One]] and her [[Female Autobots]] in the episode "[[The Search for Alpha Trion]]."

:In other Transformers cartoons, [[Sari Sumdac (Animated)|Sari Sumdac]] and the English dub gender flip of [[Override (Cybertron)|Override]] have also been added to their respective series because of network demands, whereas [[Airazor (BW)|Airazor]], [[Strika (BM)|Strika]] and [[Botanica (BM)|Botanica]] were a request from the writers to Hasbro.

: Despite persistent stories, there is no documented instance of feminists demanding the inclusion of female Transformers (and likely, they've got something better to do than complain about another generic boys show like there are hundreds of). There is, however, a comic story called "[[Prime's Rib!]]" which presents Arcee's introduction to the Autobot ranks as an attempt by Optimus Prime to appease [[Feminist mob|human feminists]]. While the story is obviously satire, through hearsay it has become believed by some that it is what actually happened.
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====''The Transformers: The Movie''====

*'''Some portions of Unicron's dialogue were recorded by an actor other than Orson Welles.'''

: A common rumor in the Western fandom claimed that Unicron's final lines ("Destiny... you cannot destroy my.. destiny!") were recorded by [[Leonard Nimoy]], based on claims that those lines sounded "different" from the rest of [[Orson Welles]]' lines.<ref>[http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0092106/trivia IMDB.com reference to the Leonard Nimoy-as-Unicron rumor.]</ref> Compounding the rumor is the fact that Welles died shortly after recording his ''TF:TM'' lines<ref>[http://www.amazon.com/This-Orson-Welles/dp/030680834X/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1/002-6174389-3113623?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1182349938&sr=8-1 According to one biography, Welles recorded his ''TF:TM'' lines on October 5, 1985 and died five days later.]</ref> (and indeed, one version of the rumor has Welles actually dying ''before'' completing his lines). Despite being debunked repeatedly (including by [[Susan Blu]] and [[Wally Burr]], both of whom should know), this one still pops up from time to time.<ref>[http://www.tfw2005.com/boards/transformers-news-rumors/387399-leonard-nimoy-officially-announced-voice-sentinel-prime-13.html#post5858748 Nimoy-as-Unicron rumor repeated by TFW2005 user "RedAlert Rescue".]</ref><ref>[http://www.slate.com/articles/arts/culturebox/2007/07/when_orson_welles_was_a_transformer.single.html Slate.com discusses the Unicron rumor.]</ref>
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*'''''The Transformers: The Movie''/Scatman Crothers coined the term "ginormous", which has since been added to several dictionaries.'''

: In ''The Transformers: The Movie'', [[Jazz (G1)|Jazz]], voiced by [[Scatman Crothers]], described [[Unicron]] as "a ginormous, weird-looking planet". The word "ginormous", a portmanteau of "gigantic" and "enormous", was officially added by the Merriam-Webster Online dictionary in 2007.<ref name="webster">[http://www.merriam-webster.com/info/newwords07.htm Merriam-Webster adding the word "ginormous]</ref>

: Some fans believe that Crothers had coined the term, which is incorrect for several reasons. Even putting aside the notion that under this theory, Crothers is assumed to have ad-libbed the line (rather than simply reading it from [[Ron Friedman]]'s script), the term has actually been around for much longer, being listed in the Oxford English Dictionary as a "British informal" word that has existed since at least the 1940s, and was originally military slang.<ref name="oxford">[http://oxforddictionaries.com/definition/english/ginormous Oxford dictionary entry for "ginormous"]</ref>
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*'''''The Transformers: The Movie'' was never released in Japan.'''

: It is true that ''The Transformers: The Movie'' was not released in Japan at the same time it was released in [[Hasbro]]'s markets, with Japanese fans instead getting the ''[[Scramble City: Mobilization]]'' OVA prior to the release of the third season of the show (second for Japan). But ''The Movie'' ultimately made it to Japanese theaters in August 1989. The various discrepancies between it and subsequent Japan-only Generation 1 fiction (such as who [[Prowl (G1)#The Headmasters cartoon|didn't]] [[Wheeljack (G1)#Victory cartoon|survive]] the movie) are largely a matter of the Japanese animators and writers being unaware of the precise details of the film. This also led to a similar rumor that ''Scramble City'' was an out-and-out ''replacement'' for the film, similar to how ''The Headmasters'' replaced "The Rebirth." Actually viewing the OVA reveals that it has nothing to do with the events of ''The Movie'', other than that both feature [[Ultra Magnus (G1)|Ultra Magnus]] and take place between the second and third seasons; at no point does it significantly contradict the film, and pretty much the only third-season change the film explains is where [[Metroplex (G1)|Metroplex]] came from. There were indeed attempts to summarize what had happened in the movie, including a narration added to "Five Faces of Darkness" and scans in ''Terebi Magazine'', but ''Scramble City'' served much more as an advertisement for its subline than a major turning point of the continuity.<ref>http://tfarchive.com/community/showthread.php?s=&postid=216153#post216153</ref><ref>http://tfarchive.com/community/showthread.php?s=&postid=216478#post216478</ref><ref>http://tfarchive.com/community/showthread.php?threadid=30800</ref>
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*'''''The Transformers: The Movie'' was released in Japan under the title "Matrix Forever".'''

: "[[The Transformers: The Movie - Apocalypse: Be Eternal, Matrix|Matrix Forever]]" is actually the shortened and slightly mistranslated title of a 20-minute video created to promote the Japanese release of ''The Transformers: The Movie'', but some Western fans have been confused into thinking that ''The Transformers: The Movie'' itself was renamed "Matrix Forever".<ref>http://groups.google.com/group/alt.toys.transformers/msg/a5d29844863d2c29</ref>
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====Japanese Generation 1 fiction====
[[File:ExplosionMarsMegaZarak MarsExplodes.jpg|upright=1.1|thumb|"What will you do?"<br>"Rebuild it. Just the way it was, brick for brick."]]
*'''Mars was destroyed in ''The Headmasters''. Therefore, all of its later Japanese G1 appearances are continuity errors.'''
:The planet [[Mars (planet)|Mars]] was blown up by the Decepticons in the [[Explosion on Mars!! MegaZarak Appears|fifteenth episode]] of the ''[[Transformers: The Headmasters (cartoon)|Transformers: The Headmasters]]'' cartoon. Yet, it made later appearances in both the ''[[Fight! Super Robot Lifeform Transformers: Victory (cartoon)|Victory]]'' and ''[[Beast Wars II: Super Lifeform Transformers (cartoon)|Beast Wars II]]'' cartoons as a fully-intact, definitely-not-destroyed planet. For decades, fans in the West took these later appearances of Mars following its destruction to be, well, a glaring continuity error. However, it actually isn't.

:In the [[The Final Showdown on Earth (Part 2)|final episode]] of ''The Headmasters'', the Autobots succeeded in finally driving the Decepticons off the Earth for good, and prepared to leave the planet themselves. When saying goodbye to the [[Witwicky]]s, the Autobot leader [[Fortress Maximus (G1)|Fortress]] stated that, among many other tasks ahead of them, the Autobots planned to rebuild Mars as part of their efforts to bring peace to the universe. Evidently, they succeeded, given Mars's aforementioned later appearances.

:The Western fandom's perception that Mars's appearances post-''The Headmasters'' were in error stemmed from the fact that, in all official ''and'' unofficial English-subtitled releases of ''The Headmasters'', Fortress's line about rebuilding Mars was completely overlooked and left out of the subtitle translations. It ''was'', however, mentioned in the English dub produced by [[Omni Productions]], but for the longest time, that was believed to have been an invention of the dub, rather than a (surprisingly) accurate translation of the Japanese dialogue.

:In truth, Mars being rebuilt was mentioned in the Japanese dialogue from the very beginning, and the Western fandom at large simply failed to notice.
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*<span id="SpaceMafia">'''Black Shadow and Blue Bacchus are both members of a "Space Mafia".'''</span>
:[[Black Shadow (G1)|Black Shadow]] of ''[[Fight! Super Robot Lifeform Transformers (franchise)#Victory|Victory]]'' has his function listed as "Space Gangster". An early fan translation of his on-package [[bio]] misinterpreted the Japanese word for "gangster" to mean "Mafia", hence the belief that a "Space Mafia" exists in the Japanese Generation 1 universe. This was naturally extended to his partner, [[Blue Bacchus]], whose function is "Space Gunman."
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*<span id="MetrotitanZombie">'''Metrotitan is a zombie version of Metroplex.'''</span>
:[[Metrotitan (G1)|Metrotitan]] was a Destron [[redeco]] of [[Metroplex (G1)|Metroplex]] from the ''[[Fight! Super Robot Lifeform Transformers (franchise)#Zone|Zone]]'' portion of Japanese Generation 1 continuity. For unclear reasons, Western fans believe that Metrotitan was a "zombified" version of Metroplex, and a stranger variation on this rumor holds that Metrotitan was somehow "regrown" from one of Metroplex's legs.<ref name="tfa522" />
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====European Generation 1 fiction====
*'''Starscream and Shrapnel are female characters in the French dub of Generation 1.'''
: This rumor is only partly true. The [[The Transformers (cartoon)|''Transformers'' cartoon]] used three different dub teams for the French version: one for the TV show's dub broadcast in Quebec, one for the TV show's dub broadcast in France and one for the [[The Transformers: The Movie|1986 movie]] used in both countries. Neither of the TV show's dubs depict [[Starscream (G1)/Generation 1 cartoon continuity|Starscream]] as a female as he uses a distinctively male voice;<ref>[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YhOCYZRxypM YouTube: Doublage de France: Combaticons et Égo]</ref><ref>[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pMXCeXw5Vdo Doublage Québécois: Égo et Dr. Croc-en-ville]</ref> however, the movie's dubbing team used a female voice for Starscream, and at one point [[Megatron (G1)/Generation 1 cartoon continuity|Megatron]] calls Starscream "une imbécile" (articles in French are gender-specific), clearly cementing Starscream's movie status as a female.<ref>http://web.archive.org/web/20080612225831/http://www.bigbot.com/mp3/transformers_mp3.shtml#Femmes</ref> All the same is also true for [[Shrapnel (G1)|Shrapnel]], who is even referred to as "Mademoiselle Shrapnel" by [[Kickback (G1)|Kickback]] in the movie.
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*'''The German version of ''The Transformers: The Movie'' was edited and didn't depict Starscream's death scene.'''
: German TV didn't air a dubbed version of the [[The Transformers (cartoon)|original ''The Transformers'' cartoon]] until 1989. ''[[The Transformers: The Movie]]'' was aired for the first time on German TV in 1994, with only one repeat. For unknown reasons, a rumor was circulating for several years claiming that [[Starscream (G1)/Generation 1 cartoon continuity|Starscream's]] death was considered too "violent" for German TV standards for children's programs and had therefore been edited out.<ref>[http://www.ofdb.de/view.php?page=fassung&fid=7489&vid=38680 German movie database ''still'' listing the rumor about Starscream's "edited death" in TF:TM]</ref> However, recordings of the TV airing still exist, which don't feature any obvious edits other than [[Spike Witwicky (G1)|Spike's]] infamous "swear" line. Furthermore, a German DVD edition of the movie released in 2004 that features an entirely different dub also depicts Starscream's death in all its glory.
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*'''An Earthforce story was written to promote the non-combining Constructicon toys.'''
:The comic story "[[Desert Island Risks!]]" from issue 264 of the [[Marvel Comics|Marvel UK]] [[The Transformers (Marvel comic)#Marvel UK|G1 comic]] reveals that the [[Constructicon (G1)|Constructicons]] have somehow lost their ability to combine into [[Devastator (G1)|Devastator]]. As a result, they try to build another Devastator as a new robot.

:Some fans mistakenly believe that this is somehow related to a re-release of the Constructicons (now in yellow) that were available in [[The Transformers (European toyline)|Europe]] after the ''[[The Transformers (toyline)|Generation 1]]'' toyline had ended in the USA. Those Constructicons omitted the extra parts necessary to form Devastator; and furthermore, [[Hook (G1)|Hook]] and [[Scavenger (G1)|Scavenger]] (neither of them officially named in this version; all six toys came on multi-purpose cardbacks simply named "Constructicon") were [[retool]]ed to omit the tabs that were necessary for combining them (and [[Bonecrusher (G1)|Bonecrusher]]) when forming Devastator. Since the toys couldn't combine into Devastator anymore, fans believe that the [[Earthforce]] comic story was intended to serve as an "explanation" for this.

:The problem with this theory, however, is that the yellow "Euro" Constructicon toys were released in 1992; the comic story, however, had already come out in early 1990. If anything, "Desert Island Risks!" was based on the [[Action Master]] version of Devastator, which no longer consisted of six individual Constructicons. (Also, the individual Constructicons don't even ''appear'' in the story.)
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===Early internet misconceptions===

*'''Powermaster Optimus Prime was the first, ''original'' Optimus Prime toy.'''
[[File:G1 OptimusPrime toy.jpg|upright=0.85|thumb|1984—the original.]]
[[File:PowermasterOptimusPrime toy.jpg|upright=0.85|thumb|1988—the Powermaster version.]]

:This one claims that the [[Powermaster]] [[Optimus Prime (G1)/toys|Optimus Prime]] toy, originally released in 1988, is the ''original'', first Optimus Prime toy ever released, rather than the ''earlier'', non-Powermaster toy, which is an entirely different mold and was originally available in 1984. This phenomenon is particularly common in [[eBay]] auctions, where Powermaster Optimus Prime toys are frequently advertised as "ORIGINAL Optimus Prime".

:The reasons for this misconception are obvious: Numerous people arrived late to the party—that is, became fans of the original ''Transformers'' line after the ''real'' original Optimus Prime toy had vanished off the shelves in 1986 (the [[The Transformers (cartoon)|cartoon]] was still shown in reruns on TV). Any of them looking for a toy of the iconic [[Autobot]] leader would only find the Powermaster toy on store shelves starting in 1988. Fast-forward to 20 years later, and people who weren't really paying a lot of attention to the brand for the past few years, now looking to sell off their childhood toys, would naturally conclude that the toy they got as a kid was the ''original'' Optimus Prime toy.

:The phenomenon is even more widespread in countries such as Germany, where the cartoon wasn't officially shown on TV until 1989(!). By that point, the ''original'' toy, which had originally been released by [[Milton Bradley]] in the European market in 1985, was long gone off the shelves. Thus, the only Optimus Prime toy available to kids who had only just become fans because of the cartoon was the Powermaster version. Admittedly, [[parallel import|gray import]]s of the Mexican version of the ''original'' toy by [[IGA]] were also available in European stores around this time, and Hasbro themselves would release the original toy again two years later as part of their European-exclusive [[Classics (Europe)|Classics]] line of reissues. However, the Powermaster Optimus Prime toy was still a lot more widespread.

*'''20th Anniversary Optimus Prime was the Optimus Prime toy available in the 1980s/Alternators are the same toys that were available in the 1980s.'''

[[File:TF-Masterpiece-MP-1-Convoy.jpg|125px|thumb|Sadly, this didn't exist until 2003.]]
:This misconception usually comes from people who, upon seeing the 20th Anniversary [[Optimus Prime (G1)/toys|Optimus Prime]] toy (which was originally released in 2003/2004), honest-to-god swear it's the toy they had when they were a kid. Similarly, there are also people who believe that the toys from the ''[[Transformers: Alternators|Alternators]]'' line are the same toys they had as kids, when they're most likely confusing them with the original Autobot Cars, which are about half the size.

:The reasons for this aren't too hard to guess: People were a lot smaller when they were kids, so obviously the original Transformers toys seemed a lot larger to them. Since these fans didn't repeatedly hold or play with their Transformers while growing up, they weren't constantly adjusting to the toys' size in relation to their own. This resulted in blurred memories of outright ''gargantuan'' Transformers toys available in the 1980s. (One might wonder how tall those people would remember [[Fortress Maximus (G1)|Fortress Maximus]] being.)

:When confronted with the original toys—now relatively small because the fans have grown up—these people often reject them, insisting the "original" toys were ''larger'' (occasionally even accusing the ''real'' original toys of being downsized [[knockoff]]s). Showing them the Alternators or 20th Anniversary Optimus Prime, on the other hand, will bring back warm (albeit incorrect) memories.

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*'''"Bumblejumper" is just a yellow Cliffjumper'''
[[File:G1-toy Bumper.jpg|thumb|upright=1.1|"Bumblejumper", who later would be known as "Bumper".]]
:In 1984, Hasbro released three different similar-form toys as part of the [[Mini Vehicle|Minicar]] assortment: [[Bumblebee (G1)/toys|Bumblebee]], [[Cliffjumper (G1)/toys|Cliffjumper]], and a [[Bumper (G1)|third unnamed toy]] that was not advertised in any capacity, sold ''only'' on Cliffjumper cards (at least, no samples on a Bumblebee card have ever surfaced). This third mold was a "leftover" from the ''[[Micro Change]]'' line, based on a Mazda Familia 1500XG sedan, and was very quickly phased out (resulting in him becoming the first of the "holy grail" super-costly Transformers on the secondary market). The exact nature of how and why this toy got released is still a mystery. Fans took to calling this third mystery mold portmanteau names such as "Bumblejumper", "Cliffbee", and "Bumper"; that last one eventually becoming his official name when he appeared in the ongoing [[Transformers: Generation 1 (Dreamwave)|''Generation One'' Volume 1]] comic series by [[Dreamwave Productions]].

:Adding to the confusion is that both Bumblebee and Cliffjumper were available in two color schemes: their fiction-supported colors (Bee in yellow, Cliff in red) and in reversed colors (Bee in red, Cliff in yellow) up through 1985. And since Cliffjumper and Bumper are both similarly boxy in vehicle form, and Bumper was only available in yellow, and only on Cliffjumper cards for a very short time, and was not in any catalogs and had no name and didn't appear in any cartoons or comics...

:Further adding to the mistaken memory pile is [[Hubcap (G1)#toys|Hubcap]], a yellow [[retool]] of Cliffjumper released in 1986. Fun!

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*'''A show-accurate Skyfire toy was available during Generation 1.'''
[[File:Jetfire-SkyfireModels.jpg|upright=0.85|thumb|Patience. You just have to wait 22 years.]]
:Due to some legal entanglements, [[Jetfire (G1)|Jetfire]] was renamed "Skyfire" for the [[The Transformers (cartoon)|original ''The Transformers'' cartoon]], with a [[character model]] that bore only a vague resemblance to the toy. Some confused viewers seem to have come away assuming that there had to be a [[Show-accuracy|show-accurate]] Generation 1 toy by the name of Skyfire. (The ''[[Transformers: Classics|Classics]]'' Jetfire toy is actually designed as a mix between the original toy and the cartoon character model, and many later toys have aspects of the cartoon model too.)

:{{-}}
*'''A Unicron toy was available during Generation 1.'''
[[File:Unicron Proto.jpg|thumb|upright=1.1|Seriously, aren't you glad your poor parents didn't have to waste like a hundred bucks on this back in '86?]]
:No toys of [[Unicron/toys|Unicron]] were available (or even produced beyond [[prototype]]) until 2003. In fact, the mere ''existence'' of those prototypes wasn't actually officially confirmed until many years later. The first [[Unicron/toys|official Unicron toy]] to be released came out as part of the ''[[Transformers: Armada (toyline)|Armada]]'' line in 2003 and was a brand new mold, not based on an old, unused prototype.

:The fictional existence of a ''[[The Transformers (toyline)|Generation 1]]'' Unicron toy is likely based on schoolground one-upmanship: if one kid had a larger toy such as [[Metroplex (G1)|Metroplex]] or [[Scorponok (G1)|Scorponok]], a rival kid would claim to have a Unicron toy in order to appear cooler, but would most likely retire to his bed a sobbing mess, knowing in his heart that one day God would punish him for being a HUGE FIBBER.

:What could also have attributed to this misconception was the voice actor for Unicron himself, Orson Welles. He died before the movie's release and the part in the 1986 movie was his last before his death in 1985. He loathed the part and could not even remember his character's name; he was quoted as saying, "I play a big toy who attacks a bunch of smaller toys," mistakenly assuming there was a toy for him.
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*'''In 2005, a crazy old man claimed he had created the original ''Transformers'' toys.'''
[[File:Henry Orenstein old.jpg|thumb|upright=1.0|right|Arguably one of the most fascinating people involved with the creation of the ''Transformers'' brand.]]
:In 2005, the ''Transformers'' [[fandom]] learned, by way of a newspaper article posted by an internet fan site, of the existence of [[Henry Orenstein]], a former toymaker. Although the main focus of the article was Orenstein's then-current achievements in the field of poker, it also implied that Orenstein had "created" the original ''[[The Transformers (toyline)|Transformers]]'' toys, and even featured a photo that depicted a somewhat confused-looking Orenstein holding [[Optimus Prime (G1)/toys#20th Anniversary/Masterpiece|20th Anniversary Optimus Prime]]. Many fans subsequently assumed that this was a deluded old man who believed he had created the concept of ''Transformers'' toys, even though the fandom knew full well by this point that the original toys were originally created in Japan. His status as the "creator" of the ''Transformers'' toy line was subsequently repeated in several other articles about the man, last with the news of his passing in 2021.

:The ''fact'' is that Orenstein had worked for [[Hasbro]] during the 1980s, and was the person who had convinced [[George Dunsay]], then Hasbro's Vice President of R&D, to acquire the rights to a (more or less) innovative type of Japanese toys, which would eventually become known as the original ''Transformers'' toys. Aside from that and the original patent for the [[rubsign]]s, which he shares with Dunsay, Orenstein has made no known contribution to the [[Transformers brand|''Transformers'' brand]]. Obviously, the writer of said newspaper article had only marginal knowledge of the history of the ''Transformers'' brand, was told what was most likely nothing more than an anecdote by Orenstein (his biography, by the way, is so fascinating that his involvement with the ''Transformers'' brand is arguably one of the ''less'' noteworthy details), and subsequently inflated it massively with hyperbole, possibly in an attempt to gain more attention to his article due to the popularity of the brand, even before the [[Transformers (film)|2007 movie]]. The only question is, where did the photographer get the 20th Anniversary Optimus Prime toy from?
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*'''"Generation 2" means "after ''The Transformers: The Movie''."'''
:This common but explicitly false idea probably stems from the many casual fans who grew up with the original ''Transformers'' line but stopped paying much attention around 1986, when the animated ''[[The Transformers: The Movie]]'' debuted and the ''Transformers'' craze began to die down. Many such fans regained some interest in ''Transformers'' many years later, particularly with hype surrounding the [[Transformers (film)|2007 live-action movie]]. Seeing the phrase "Generation 2" batted around in fandom, it might seem natural to assume it refers to the big changeover that happened with the animated film. It certainly didn't help that, early in the life of [[Dreamwave Productions|Dreamwave]], [[Pat Lee]] shared in this misconception, leading other new arrivals to the fandom to ape his use of the term.

:While the original animated movie certainly marked a change from one "generation" of toys to another, along with some new design trends, the phrase "Generation 2" refers to [[Transformers: Generation 2 (franchise)|a very specific franchise]], marketed from 1992 to 1995—years after the animated film had come and gone. Its relative obscurity probably contributes to the mis-attribution of the term, as ''Generation 2'' marks a low point in popularity for ''Transformers'' as a whole.
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[[File:TFTM dead gray Prime.jpg|upright=1.67|thumb|Traumatizing enough as it is, frankly.]]
*'''There exists an "uncut version" of ''The Transformers: The Movie'' containing all sorts of non-kid-friendly content.'''

: These stories stem mainly from the fact that many home-video releases of ''[[The Transformers: The Movie]]'' omit two relatively minor instances of characters using profanity, which during the 1990s resulted in some [[alt.toys.transformers]] posters advertising "uncut" VHS copies of the movie for sale, thus either intentionally or unintentionally creating the myth of a really foul-mouthed and ultra-violent alternate version of ''The Transformers: The Movie''. At least one poster claimed to have uncut reels of the original film showing a number of violent scenes,<ref>[http://groups.google.com/group/alt.toys.transformers/browse_thread/thread/07464cbfbb5d0cc9/8aee0b30765b2b4a?hl=en#8aee0b30765b2b4a THE UNCUT JAPANESE TRANSFORMERS MOVIE]</ref> but, unsurprisingly, was unwilling to provide any form of proof.<ref>[http://groups.google.com/group/alt.toys.transformers/browse_thread/thread/799fec40c1aa285e/6af42e4099affa04?hl=en# Doth the Canadian protesteth too much?]</ref> So have ended all claims of uncut footage from the film.

:A much stranger rumor, whose origins are unclear, claims that the original theatrical cut of ''The Transformers: The Movie'' depicted [[Optimus Prime (G1)/Generation 1 cartoon continuity|Optimus Prime]] crumbling into dust after dying, and that that scene was cut by the distributor in mid-release because children were traumatized by the imagery. Interestingly, the "[[Death of Optimus Prime]]" track on the original soundtrack album does contain ten extra seconds of music. At the end, just before the song's final low-octave percussion sequence, there is a very distinct series of notes that appears nowhere else in the song and is not in the onscreen version. However, no other evidence of this "lost" animation sequence exists among the many storyboards, preliminary animations, interviews, varying formats, etc., that have come to light. The myth could be related to the death of Starscream, a few scenes later, where Starscream '''does''' indeed crumble to dust after being shot by Galvatron; time and distance could lead fans to confuse the two scenes.

:These claims should not be confused with the extra storyboarded scenes and early script revisions which have come to light over the years, which do in fact contain a lot more violence. But no evidence exists that any of these sequences, even those that made it to storyboard, were ever animated. Especially given the expense of producing full animation.

::''See also: [[The Transformers: The Movie#Edits]].''
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*<span id="MegGalvJapan">'''In Japanese continuity, Megatron and Galvatron are two separate characters.'''</span>
:There are a few instances of Japanese fiction (and advertising) that would seem to support this notion, all of which can be attributed to a lack of communication between [[Hasbro]] and [[TakaraTomy|Takara]] prior to the release of ''[[The Transformers: The Movie]]''. All of them were ultimately ignored by the "primary" fiction, namely the (dubbed) third season of the cartoon (named ''Transformers: 2010'' in Japan) and the accompanying manga, which followed the Western story concept of Galvatron being a reformatted [[Megatron (G1)/Generation 1 cartoon continuity|Megatron]].

:The [[The Story of Super Robot Lifeforms: The Transformers issue 2|second issue]] of ''[[The Story of Super Robot Lifeforms: The Transformers]]'' [[manga]] depicts [[Galvatron (G1)/Generation 1 cartoon continuity|Galvatron]] commanding [[Megatron Corps|a legion of automatons]] created in [[Megatron (G1)/Generation 1 cartoon continuity|Megatron]]'s image, which some non-Japanese-speaking fans misinterpreted as depicting Galvatron and Megatron co-existing. This even extended into ''[[The Battlestars]]'', where the appearance of Super Megatron solidified the idea to those fans; after all, surely if he were upgraded from Galvatron, he would be named Super Galvatron, right? One particularly sturdy rumor claimed that he was trying to hunt Galvatron down (possibly conflating him with [[Gilthor]]).<ref>http://tfarchive.com/creative/showentry.php?s=179</ref>
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*<span id="PlanetDestron">'''In Japanese continuity, the Destrons (Decepticons) were invaders from a planet called Destron.'''</span>
:The [[Autobot]]s were renamed "Cybertrons" in the Japanese translation, resulting in a misconception that the Destrons ([[Decepticon]]s) must hail from somewhere other than the planet [[Cybertron (planet)|Cybertron]]. However, the Japanese translation also used slightly different spellings for the faction, "Cybertron" (literally: サイバトロン, "Sa-i-ba-to-ro-n"), and the planet, (literally: セイバートロン, "Se-i-baa-to-ro-n"), commonly interpreted as "Seibertron" by Western fans, in order to avoid confusion, even though both words originally started out based on the English name "Cybertron".<ref name="tfa522">[http://tfarchive.com/creative/showentry.php?s=522 The Transformers Archive essay about various urban legends surrounding the Transformers franchise]</ref>

:This rumor presumably originates from an article a Thomas Wheeler had written for ''Attic's Collectible Toys and Values Monthly'' during the hiatus between the [[The Transformers (toyline)|G1]] and [[Transformers: Generation 2 (toyline)|G2]] toylines. According to that article, Hasbro chose not to follow this element of the story because of the similarity between the term "Destron" and ''[[G.I. Joe (franchise)|G.I. Joe]]''{{'}}s "[[Destro]]" character. Of course, seeing as the story originated in America to begin with and was only dubbed into Japanese later on, this doesn't make a lot of sense. In later years, Wheeler wrote toy reviews for Master Collector's website, which occasionally also display a certain lack of knowledge about various toys and the ''Transformers'' brand's overall history, so it doesn't seem entirely out of place for him.
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==Beast Era Misconceptions==
===Toys===
*'''Beast Wars didn't originally have the Transformers branding.'''
[[File:BW Waspinator packaging variants.jpg|thumb|right|upright=1.1|Let's play the "spot the ''Transformers'' logo" game.]]
:While the early design of ''[[Beast Wars: Transformers (toyline)|Beast Wars]]'' toy packaging had the ''Transformers'' brand name in a smaller typeface than the main ''Beast Wars'' logo, the toy range was ''always'' officially titled ''Beast Wars: Transformers'' in the United States from day one (while the back of the packaging typically added a definite article, ''Beast Wars: '''The''' Transformers'', presumably in order to keep the [[trademark]] for the original toyline). The ''Beast Wars'' name was first reduced in size with the shift from rock bubble to smooth bubble cards, and again in 1998 with the release of the [[Transmetal]]s and [[Fuzor]]s subranges, which also saw the order of the two parts reversed to ''Transformers: Beast Wars'', thus considerably increasing the prominence of the ''Transformers'' title.

:In Canada and Latin America, the use of [[multilingual packaging|trilingual packaging]] necessitated that the triple ''Beast Wars/Guerre des Bêtes/Guerra de Bestias'' title was rendered in a smaller font than on United States packaging to begin with, resulting in the ''Transformers'' name being more prominent as well. The order of the two parts was switched analogously with United States packaging.

:In Europe, things were a little less cut-and-dry: Initially, early production runs of trilingual English/Spanish/Italian packaging featured only the ''Beast Wars'' title in around the same size featured on United States packaging at the time, while the ''Transformers'' branding was placed in the lower right corner of the packaging. In the case of carded figures, that meant it was hidden far away from the ''Beast Wars'' title, while on boxed figures, it was simply much smaller than, and not at all aligned with, the main title. On top of that, it was rendered in red on an already red background (and, for some reason, also included a ''[[Transformers: Generation 2 (toyline)|Generation 2]]''-style [[Autobot]] [[insignia]]!). The same was done with early trilingual French/Dutch/German packaging, which featured the double title ''Beast Wars/Ani Mutants''.

:Eventually, English/Spanish/Italian also adopted a second title, becoming ''Beast Wars/Biocombat'', and the ''Transformers'' name was placed directly below it, with the color changed from red to white and the ''Generation 2'' Autobot insignia dropped, just like on American packaging. Unlike English/Spanish/Italian packaging, this packaging design was continued all the way through 1997. Finally, the introduction of the Transmetals and Fuzors subranges in 1998 also saw another change: While English/Spanish/Italian packaging simply reduced the size of the entire title on Basic and Deluxe blister cards, but still kept the ''Transformers'' portion as the secondary title for the remainder of the toyline's run, French/Dutch/German packaging followed the example of American packaging and moved the ''Transformers'' name on top, while keeping the title itself in the same font size also featured on each packaging's English/Spanish/Italian counterpart.

:Lastly, when British commercial broadcaster ITV aired the [[Beast Wars: Transformers (cartoon)|''Beast Wars'' television series]] on their morning show (GMTV), the ''Transformers'' name was edited out of the title sequence entirely.
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===Fiction===
====''Beast Wars''====
*'''The [[Vok]] are servants of [[The One]].'''
:This idea was largely born out of coincidence and very poor timing. In the first season of the [[Beast Wars: Transformers (cartoon)|''Beast Wars'' cartoon]], one of the more important parts of its story was the mystery surrounding an alien race called the Vok. As admitted by series creators [[Bob Forward]] and [[Larry DiTillio]], the first season was largely made up as it went along; so too was the story of the Vok. There was no truly definite plan for what these aliens were, aside from enigmatic and otherworldly. Behind the scenes, there were some ideas bounced back and forth between Forward and DiTillio, but which were largely contradictory and not at all definitive. Ultimately, the true nature of the Vok was left unexplored in the cartoon, leaving it to ancillary media to formulate their own interpretations.
:For [[BotCon 2001]], Bob Forward was given the chance to flesh out the Vok's backstory in the form of a short comic story titled "[[Primeval Dawn Part 1|Primeval Dawn]]", in which he characterized the Vok as an evolved and enlightened form of the [[Swarm (G2)|Swarm]], a malevolent force from the ''[[Transformers: Generation 2 (Marvel)|Generation 2]]'' series from [[Marvel Comics]] (Note that this was ''not'' one of Forward's ideas for the Vok but rather one of DiTillio's). In this comic, the Vok declared themselves to be "Guardians of the One. Defenders of the Ultimate -- Of that which must be." At the time of release, this appeared to have merely been a direct callback to a line the Vok had spoken in the cartoon episode "[[Other Voices, Part 1]]"—"That which does not become part of the One shall become void." Though, what, exactly, they meant by "the One" was not explained.
:After a series of delays and changed plans, the next two chapters of ''[[Primeval Dawn]]'' finally saw release at [[OTFCC 2004]]. By this point, Hasbro had mandated that all convention fiction must promote the new ''[[Transformers: Universe (2003 franchise)|Transformers: Universe]]'' series. Thus, Parts 2 and 3 of ''Primeval Dawn'' were given a sizable dose of foreshadowing to the [[Universe War]]. In particular, "[[Primeval Dawn Part 3]]" (no longer penned by Forward but instead by ''[[Transformers: Universe (comic)#Transformers: Universe|Universe]]'' writer [[Simon Furman]]) gave the following descriptions for the Vok:
{{quote|We are '''''the Vok''''', guardians of '''''the One.''''' We are of the Source, the Core, forever committed to safeguard '''''the Plan.''''' But it was not always so. We began in flailing darkness, a '''''swarming''''' mass of '''''hungry''''' instinct and '''''primal''''' need. Unguided, we consumed, ravaged... Plagued the very macroverse we now seek to protect. Then came the '''''Light''''', and with knowledge and understanding. Our destiny and purpose revealed.}}
{{quote|We spread beyond the one universe into the '''''many''''', across '''''every''''' plane of reality and consciousness, seeding the past, present, and future. We saw the '''''entirety''''' of the Creator's vision, the One... and the '''''All.''''' A '''''unity''''' of worlds, timelines, and dimensions. A multiversal confluence, harmonized and organized. In perfect '''''synchronicity.''''' But... The Plan is threatened. The '''''Enemy''''' of all creation is once more roused. His agents spreading like a '''''virus''''' throughout the omniversal system.|Vok|[[Primeval Dawn Part 3]]}}
:Translation: The first part is another recounting of the Vok's origins as the Swarm and their purification by [[Primus]]'s power via the [[Matrix of Leadership|Matrix]]. The "Source"/"Core" they speak of is Primus himself,<ref>One year earlier, in 2003, Furman equated Primus with the Oracle, Vector Sigma, and "the Source" in the ''Transformers: Universe'' [[OTFCC Live-Action Drama|live script reading]] at [[OTFCC 2003]].</ref> whose essence within the Matrix is the source of Cybertronian life, and who became one with the [[core]] of Cybertron, in [[The Transformers (Marvel comic)|Marvel's ''The Transformers'' comics]] (specifically those written by Furman). The second part seems to reinterpret the Vok's ill-defined experiment with prehistoric Earth as part of some still-vague service to "the One"/"the Plan"/"the Creator's vision"—in other words, Primus's [[Grand Plan]]. Their "quantum-babble" description of "the One and the All" likewise alludes to the saying "[['Til all are one]]", which is now tied directly to the Grand Plan. The "Enemy of all creation" is [[Unicron]], whose imminent return and "agents spreading like a virus" across the multiverse were the key aspects of the Universe War itself, making this more foreshadowing on Furman's part. 
:However, much of this was misinterpreted by certain fans thanks to "Primeval Dawn Part 3" being released just two months after the publication of ''[[Transformers: The Ultimate Guide]]'', a book that was likewise penned by Furman. This book first introduced the idea of a godlike being simply known as "[[The One]]" who created both Unicron and Primus at the dawn of time. A year later, the Hasbro website feature [[Ask Vector Prime]] would claim that Unicron and Primus were created by something called the "Source". And later still in [[2015]], the Facebook version of Ask Vector Prime would conflate both The One and the Source with the "sentient core of the universe" that created Primus in the Marvel comics, canonizing a few fan theories that had flourished over the years.
:In hindsight, with all three of these concepts now merged together, it is not hard to see why some fans thought that the "One", the "Source", and the "Core" that the Vok spoke of in ''Primeval Dawn'' was the very same entity that ''The Ultimate Guide'', Vector Prime, and Marvel had each claimed to have been the creator of Primus. Yet, it becomes clear that that was not the intended meaning behind the Vok's dialogue when one realizes that said dialogue was instead merely attempting [[to sell toys|to build hype]] for ''Transformers: Universe'', and that the Vok's true master was simply Primus himself. Thankfully, when once asked directly about the Vok's service of The One, Vector Prime neglected to address that particular part of the question altogether.
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====Japanese ''Beast Wars''====
*'''Preface'''
:To give a better idea of how the following misconceptions came about, many of them stem from how little access the Western fandom had to understandable forms of the Japanese ''Beast Wars'' media at the time. After all, when the series were first released, the internet was still a relatively "new" thing, where [[alt.toys.transformers|USENET forums]] were still a major outlet for fan information and websites were... rudimentary. For about two decades since that time, the most that the West had access to were a small number of fan-subtitled episodes of ''[[Beast Wars II: Super Lifeform Transformers (cartoon)|Beast Wars II]]'' and ''[[Super Lifeform Transformers: Beast Wars Neo (cartoon)|Beast Wars Neo]]'', a fansubbed version of the theatrical feature segment ''[[Lio Convoy in Imminent Danger!]]'', a translation of the first ''Beast Wars II'' [[Catalog#Beast Wars II|toy catalog]], and second-hand accounts from those who had seen the untranslated episodes of either series or had read each's respective [[Beast Wars II: Super Lifeform Transformers (manga)|manga]] [[Super Lifeform Transformers: Beast Wars Neo (manga)|series]]. Over time, those who lacked an understanding of the Japanese language would misinterpret much of these series' specifics. The following are a few of the most well known misunderstandings.
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[[File:Optimusx2.JPG|thumb|Well, that's just Prime.]]
*'''In Japanese ''Beast Wars'' continuity, Optimus Primal and Megatron were the same characters as their Generation 1 namesakes.'''
:Initially, both ''[[Beast Wars: Transformers (franchise)|Beast Wars]]'' [[Megatron (BW)|Megatron]] and [[Optimus Primal (BW)|Optimus Primal]] were identified in early packaging as new incarnations of Generation 1 [[Megatron (G1)|Megatron]] and [[Optimus Prime (G1)|Optimus Prime]], respectively, in the Western release of the toyline. This was most evident in the bios of the Basic class bat Optimus Primal and alligator Megatron toys, the very first toys of the two. But, the [[Beast Wars: Transformers (cartoon)|''Beast Wars'' cartoon]] would do away with this by firmly establishing that the two were instead separate individuals from their Generation 1 namesakes.

:When ''Beast Wars'' was first brought over to Japan, Takara evidently thought that the original notion was still the case: Optimus Primal was renamed "Convoy", the same Japanese name as Optimus Prime, and the [[Maximal]] and [[Predacon (BW)|Predacon]] factions were given the same Japanese names as those of the Autobot and Decepticon factions—"Cybertron" and "Destron", respectively. Optimus and Megatron's Ultra and Basic class toys were each given Japanese bios loosely based on the English bios of their respective Basic class toys; their Ultra class toy bios even gave them the same functions as their Generation 1 namesakes ([[Supreme Commander]] and [[Emperor of Destruction]], respectively) and the one for Optimus even implied that he was the very same Optimus of old. Both of their Basic class toys were even given special redecos with new bios that ''explicitly'' claimed the two had previously been a tractor trailer and a Walther P-38, the very altmodes of the Generation 1 Optimus Prime and Megatron.

:When the first season of the ''Beast Wars'' cartoon began airing in Japan, it was initially ambiguous on the matter, never actually saying one way or the other if Optimus and Megatron were meant to be new characters like their English counterparts, or the same characters as their Generation 1 namesakes. More unhelpful to this confusion was Optimus Primal's later big-screen guest appearance in ''Lio Convoy in Imminent Danger!'', in which the cast of ''Beast Wars II'' revered him as a "legendary Supreme Commander", in contrast to his depiction in the American cartoon as merely the captain of a lowly science vessel. Likewise, the Predacon leader [[Galvatron (BW)|Galvatron]] referred to a "Megatron" as "the greatest and most vicious legendary Transformer in history." But, it was never clarified if this grandiose description was in reference to Generation 1 or ''Beast Wars'' Megatron... likely because, at the time, the movie treated the two as the same person, just as it seemed to do for Optimus.

[[File:G1Megatron MasterBlaster stasislock.jpg|upright=1.1|thumb|left|Hello there, past self who is a completely different individual.]]
:Clarity would finally come in ''Beast Wars Metals'', the Japanese dub of the ''Beast Wars'' cartoon's second and third seasons, which had been held back from airing on Japanese television until after both seasons had been completed by [[Mainframe Entertainment|Mainframe]], and thus did not reach Japanese audiences until after ''Beast Wars II'' and ''Beast Wars Neo'' were over. In short, ''Metals'' remained consistent with the original English-language version in keeping the Generation 1 and ''Beast Wars'' namesakes as separate characters. In the Japanese dub of "[[The Agenda (Part 2)]]", ''Beast Wars'' Megatron even refers to Generation 1 Megatron as "My ancestor Megatron" (我先祖のメガトロン, ''Waga senzo no Megatron'') when relating the history of the Golden Disk to Ravage.

:As for the "legendary" status of ''Beast Wars'' Optimus and Megatron in the movie, that was (and still is) merely an aspect of long-running Japanese children's series that have multiple shows (e.g. – ''Kamen Rider'', ''Super Sentai'', etc.), in that the main hero of a previous series is treated with awe and reverence by the cast of the next series in any crossover team-ups. Optimus Primal was the leader of the good guys from the series preceding ''Beast Wars II'', so the cast of that series viewed him with due respect. Later, the cast of ''Beast Wars Neo'' did the same for Lio Convoy of ''Beast Wars II'', calling him a "legendary warrior" in [[Illusion? Lio Convoy|Episode 29]]. Heck, even [[Big Convoy]] was called a "legendary warrior" multiple times in ''Neo'', even as early as the [[Big Convoy, Move Out|first episode]]. To put it simply, being "legendary" in Japanese ''Beast Wars'' fiction is not as special as it sounds.

:Incidentally, it would later be confirmed that the ''Beast Wars II'' cartoon actually took place eons ''after'' the later-made ''Beast Wars'' sequel series ''[[Beast Machines: Transformers (cartoon)|Beast Machines]]'' (see below for more). This meant that ''Beast Wars'' Optimus Primal and Megatron actually ''were'' figures of the distant past from the ''Beast Wars II'' cast's perspective. In hindsight, this legendary status of the two in the movie fits rather well with how, in ''Beast Machines'', Megatron singlehandedly conquered all of Cybertron and "viciously" captured the sparks of its entire population, while Optimus saved the whole planet from Megatron at the cost of his own life. As Japan would not receive that series until [[2004]]—six years after the movie's release—this all proved rather fortuitous in the end.
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*'''Optimus Primal was sent to Planet Gaia in the ''Beast Wars II'' movie when he flew into the alien machine at the end of "Other Voices, Part 2".'''
:The ''Beast Wars II'' feature film, ''[[Beast Wars Special Super Lifeform Transformers]]'', was initially released in Japanese theaters before the second season of the American ''Beast Wars'' cartoon first aired in Japan. During the ''Lio Convoy in Imminent Danger!'' segment of this film, Optimus Primal made a guest appearance to team up with the cast of ''Beast Wars II''. At the end of the segment, he declares that he must "return to Energoa"; this was the name given to prehistoric Earth in the Japanese dub of the ''Beast Wars'' cartoon, before its true identity as Earth was revealed. This meant that he had been transported to Planet [[Gaia]]—future Earth—from prehistoric Earth during the time of the [[Beast Wars (event)|Beast Wars]].

:The final episode of the first season of ''Beast Wars'', "[[Other Voices, Part 2]]", ends with Optimus Primal flying up into the [[Vok]]'s [[Planet Buster|planet-destroying weapon]], sacrificing himself to save the planet. [[Aftermath|Three]] [[Coming of the Fuzors (Part 1)|episodes]] [[Coming of the Fuzors (Part 2)|later]], he is restored to life after a difficult resurrection process. Since Primal's appearance in the movie was screened in Japan between the Japanese airings of Seasons 1 and 2 of ''Beast Wars'', some took this release order as a literal chronology for Optimus Primal's Japanese cartoon appearances, thinking that his final moment in "Other Voices, Part 2" was the exact moment he was pulled into the future and brought to Gaia. A statement given in the ''[[Beast Wars Theatrical Special Film Book]]'' even seemed to confirm this theory.<ref>Page 7: エイリアンマシンに激突した際、時空を超えて惑星ガイアにやってきた。("When he crashed into the [[Planet Buster|Alien Machine]], he crossed space-time and came to the planet Gaia.")</ref>

:Some even took his presence in the movie as an explanation for why the Maximal [[Rhinox (BW)|Rhinox]] had great difficulty locating Primal's [[spark]] within "the other side of the [[Transformer afterlife|Matrix]]" in "[[Coming of the Fuzors (Part 2)]]", as if to mean that it ''wasn't'' there at the time. ''Lio Convoy in Imminent Danger!'' is even bookended by sequences that recap the events of Primal's death and rebirth in ''Beast Wars''. And most of all, when Optimus is brought to Gaia, he initially appears in a glowing, yellow, ghost-like form, which ''wasn't'' the case for the story's main antagonist, [[Majin Zarak]], who had arrived on Gaia through the exact same means as Optimus. He even returns to this glowing, yellow, spectral form upon his departure near the end of the movie.

:However, despite the longevity of this theory, the opening narration of the very next part of the movie—the Japanese dub of the ''Beast Wars'' season 2 episode "[[Bad Spark]]"—actually seems to debunk it by essentially reiterating what was true of Primal's fate in the English version of ''Beast Wars''. In this narration, Rhinox and [[Rattrap (BW)|Rattrap]] claim that Optimus Primal did indeed die in the [[unspace|transwarp]] explosion at the end of "Other Voices, Part 2", and that Rhinox had brought his spark back from the dead in "Coming of the Fuzors (Part 2)".

:While this apparently renders the ''Film Book''{{'}}s statement in error, it does seem like there was originally ''some'' intention for it to be true, given Primal's arrival and departure in the movie depicting him in his aforementioned ghostly form. But, while a neat idea, it raises too many questions and relies on too many assumptions in order for it to sensibly fit with Primal's onscreen resurrection. And since Rhinox and Rattrap claim otherwise, this would mean that Optimus was brought to the future from a different point during the Beast Wars, ''before'' the end of Season 1 due to Primal having his Season 1 body in the movie. Exactly when during Season 1, however, has never been disclosed.
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{{anchor|JBWchronology}}
[[File:PrimalLioConvoyCatalog01.jpg|thumb|Everything you know is a lie!]]
*'''The characters of the ''Beast Wars II'' and ''Beast Wars Neo'' cartoons hail from the same time-period as the cast of ''Beast Wars'', at a point set prior to ''Beast Machines''.'''
:It's almost not fair to call this one a misconception: By all appearances, this ''was'' the original intent for the Japanese-original ''Beast Wars'' shows. Both the first catalog packed in with ''Beast Wars II'' toys and the ''Beast Wars II'' manga present Lio Convoy and Galvatron as contemporaries of ''Beast Wars'' Optimus Primal and Megatron, and the ''Beast Wars II'' cartoon initially gave no reason to doubt that this also applied to its story. ''Beast Wars Neo'' even featured a [[Convoy Council|governing body]] that could have very well been the Japanese version of the [[Maximal High Council|High Council]] of [[Maximal Elder]]s.

:But then, months into its run, the [[Emissary of the Fourth Planet|thirty-sixth episode]] of ''Beast Wars II'' stated that humanity hadn't lived on Gaia for "tens of thousands of years." As the ''Beast Wars'' cartoon [[Dark Designs|established]] that its cast hailed from only three centuries after the Generation 1 era, when Earth was still populated by humans, this meant that it was impossible for the 'bots of ''Beast Wars II'' and ''Neo'' to be from the same time period, and that the two Japanese series were, in fact, set ''long'' after the home-time of the ''Beast Wars'' cast.

:What's more, the [[Big Convoy, Move Out|first episode]] of ''Beast Wars Neo'' opened with a depiction of the Maximals and Predacons ''unambiguously'' at war with each other. Said war had apparently been going on for a long time, too, given that Maximal commander [[Big Convoy]] was described throughout the series as a legendary "One-Man Army" with a history of having singlehandedly won countless battles prior to the series' beginning. This not only conflicted with the [[Beast Wars (Part 1)|first episode]] of the American ''Beast Wars'' series stating that the Maximals and Predacons were currently at peace with each other and had been for centuries, but would be further contradicted by [[The Agenda (Part 1)|a later episode]] (which, admittedly, had yet to air in Japan at the time of ''Neo''{{'}}s initial airing) referring to this peace as the "[[Pax Cybertronia]]".

:Of course, as it was nearly twenty years before either series had been translated in full, western fans didn't really ''know'' about any of this at the time and, with only the catalog to go on, continued to assume that its story held true for the Japanese cartoons. It was only in 2006, when TakaraTomy published a massive [[Source:Generation 1 cartoon timeline (Japan)|Generation 1/Beast Era timeline]], which adhered to the ''Beast Wars II'' cartoon's dating for the series, that English-speaking fans at large first learned of this fact.

:Now, to be fair, ''Beast Wars II'' and ''Neo'' probably didn't ''intentionally'' deviate from the ''Beast Wars'' cartoon, but rather, just kinda goofed on the continuity, and history had to roll with it. That said, this did also fix another discrepancy: By coincidence, both ''Beast Wars Neo'' and ''Beast Machines'' (both produced around the same time) featured the mega-computer [[Vector Sigma]], but depicted it in two radically different, very contradictory ways. ''Beast Wars Neo'' presented the computer as the publicly-known ruler of Cybertron, while ''Beast Machines'' depicted it as a long-lost legend, unheard of for years until it was reactivated as [[Oracle (BM)|the Oracle]] in [[The Reformatting|the first episode of the series]]. If ''Beast Wars Neo'' was meant to occur before ''Beast Machines'' (as was probably the intent), this didn't make any sense, but the timeline shuffle caused by ''Beast Wars II'' now helped these two different portrayals fit together.

:It did create a ''new'' discrepancy, though: In ''Beast Wars Neo'', Cybertron was depicted with its traditional appearance as a metallic planet, while, at the end of ''Beast Machines'', it was converted into a [[technorganic]] form. In [[2019]], a ''[[Transformers Legends (franchise)|Transformers Legends]]'' [[Legends Comic: Bonus Edition Vol. EX (Blue Big Convoy)|pack-in comic]] fixed this last gap in the timeline, explaining how and why Cybertron was turned back into a metallic world eons after its [[Great Transformation|technorganic reformatting]].

:While these retcons have tidied things up, the fans' original understanding of the timeline has influenced several pieces of American Beast Era media over the years. The Hasbro toy bio for [[Transmetal 2|Transmetals 2]] [[Cybershark]] referred to "a rogue band of Cybertronian space pirates" (an allusion to ''Beast Wars II''{{'}}s [[Seacon (BW)|Seacon Space Pirates]]) as his contemporaries, while the bio for ''[[Dinobot (BM)|Dinobots]]'' [[Magmatron]] all but explicitly pegged him as the same Magmatron from ''Neo'', mentioning his "[[Emperor of Destruction|emperor of destruction]]" title and his involvement in "an interplanetary quest for [[Angolmois Energy|energy capsules]]"; the latter of which was also placed, by the bio, before the events of ''Beast Machines''.<ref>The full first sentence of ''Dinobots'' Magmatron's bio: "Following an interplanetary quest for energy capsules, Magmatron returned to Cybertron to find an alarmingly growing population of Vehicon drones."</ref> In both the ''[[Transformers: Universe (comic)|Universe]]'' comic series and the prose story "[[Wreckers: Finale Part II]]", characters from the two Japanese series appeared on Cybertron as contemporaries of the ''Beast Machines'' cast, at points set within a year after the planet's reformatting. The latter even identified ''Beast Wars II''{{'}}s [[Cyborg Beast]]s as "pre-reformatting". [[IDW Publishing]]'s two ''Beast Wars'' comic mini-series, ''[[Transformers, Beast Wars: The Gathering|The Gathering]]'' and ''[[Transformers: Beast Wars: The Ascending|The Ascending]]'', and the accompanying ''[[Transformers: Beast Wars Sourcebook|Beast Wars Sourcebook]]'', likewise chose to depict the ''Beast Wars II'' and ''Neo'' casts as contemporaries of the ''Beast Wars'' characters, but also ''further'' reshuffled the timeline by repositioning the events akin to ''Beast Wars II'' and ''Neo'' a few years ''before'' the home time-period of the ''Beast Wars'' cast, instead of during or after. Finally, the ''Beast Wars II'' Predacons [[BB (BW)|Max-B]] and [[Dirge (BW)|Dirge]] were featured in the ''Beast Wars'' prequels "[[Intimidation Game]]" and "[[Theft of the Golden Disk]]", respectively.

:Even after the release of the Japanese Generation 1/Beast Era timeline, new media set in other continuities have chosen to continue depicting characters from ''Beast Wars II'' and ''Neo'' (and even ''Car Robots'') existing side-by-side with the ''Beast Wars'' and ''Beast Machines'' cast, with such series as ''[[Beast Wars: Uprising]]'', the ''[[Transformers Legends (comic)|Transformers Legends]]'' comics set in the "[[Legends World]]", and even IDW's second ''[[Transformers: Beast Wars|Beast Wars]]'' comic series each presenting all of them living together in societies and scenarios unique to those series.
{{-}}

*'''The characters in ''Beast Wars II'' travel forward in time to Future Earth just like how the characters of ''Beast Wars'' travel back in time to Prehistoric Earth.'''
:Seemingly an offshoot of the above misconception, this appears to have been born out of a misinterpretation of a scene in the [[The New Forces Arrive!|first episode]]. When the Maximal starship ''[[Yukikaze (BW)|Yukikaze]]'' takes off into space, there is a shot where it vanishes in a flash of light and reappears elsewhere within the vicinity of Gaia. Some have mistaken this flash of light to mean that the ''Yukikaze'' traveled through [[unspace|transwarp space]] forward in time to arrive in the future, as if to echo the ''[[Axalon (BW)|Axalon]]''{{'}}s own time-jump to the past in ''Beast Wars''.

:This feels like an attempt to hold on to the belief of the ''Beast Wars II'' cast originating from the same home-time of the ''Beast Wars'' cast, while also aligning with the revelation of Gaia being Earth several tens of millennia after humanity left planet.

:In truth, however, what really happens during the scene in question is that the ''Yukikaze'' simply travels to Gaia with no time travel involved. The ship's disappearance and reappearance in a flash of light was merely the ship going to warp speed, just like many other spacecraft of science fiction.
{{-}}

*'''In ''Beast Wars II'', Apache is a drunkard as part of a Native American stereotype.'''
:[[Apache]] did indeed get drunk in the first episode of the ''Beast Wars II'' cartoon, but only in grief, believing (erroneously) that his earlier actions had caused the death of [[Lio Convoy]] (which didn't happen). He did not get drunk again for the duration of the cartoon, nor did he ever do so in the manga. Outside of that, the Native American stereotype "common" to Japanese fictions is a stoic, silent, and often mystical warrior—none of which could be used to accurately describe Apache at all.

:Amusingly enough, in the sixth installment of the ''Beast Wars II'' manga, ''Lio Convoy'' gets drunk for no apparent reason and ends up trashing Apache's room.
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[[File:BWNeo Unicron.JPG|thumb|Looks can be deceiving.]]
*'''In ''Beast Wars Neo'', Unicron was resurrected by possessing the corpse of Galvatron.'''
:This misunderstanding is pretty understandable. In [[Illusion? Lio Convoy|Episode 29]], the coveted [[Angolmois Energy]] is revealed to be the life energy of [[Unicron]], who is successfully resurrected in [[Unicron Revived!?|the very next episode]]. Yet, when he makes his debut, he appears in the form of Galvatron, who had seemingly perished in the [[Farewell! Lio Convoy|final episode]] of ''Beast Wars II''. At first glance, it looks as though Galvatron's corpse had been recovered and used as a vessel to house Unicron's Angolmois Energy, and those who did not understand the Japanese dialogue simply assumed this to be the case.

:However, the Japanese dialogue actually states otherwise. Unicron's resurrected form is not Galvatron's physical body, but is actually an energy body made of Angolmois Energy that Unicron has deliberately shaped into resembling the likeness of Galvatron. He takes this form in an initial attempt to trick Magmatron into thinking that he ''is'' Galvatron, impersonating the deceased Predacon leader before revealing his true identity. After which , he simply decided to continue using Galvatron's likewise as his energy body's default appearance, even using Galvatron's name when transforming between dragon and robot modes.

:Ironically, the misconception of Galvatron's body absorbing the Angolmois Energy as a resurrection vessel is almost exactly what Unicron wanted Magmatron to think, with the difference being that Unicron wanted Magmatron to think that the absorption was for Galvatron's revival instead of Unicron's.
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[[File:BWN Blentrons absorbed.jpg|thumb|Unicron absorbs the Blentrons for no reasons related to Angolmois Energy.]]
*'''The Blentrons are made of Angolmois Energy, and are later absorbed by Unicron to fully complete his resurrection.'''
:In [[End of the Maximals!?|Episode 33]] of ''Beast Wars Neo'', the resurrected Unicron reaches Planet Cybertron in his aim to posses [[Vector Sigma]] and turn Cybertron into his new physical body. However, before touching down on the planet, he battles his way through the entire Maximal space fleet, utterly annihilating it and exhausting much of his power in the process. In his weakened state, he is then nearly destroyed in a fight with Big Convoy. His loyal minions, the [[Blentron]]s, soon come to Unicron's aid and are promptly absorbed by their master.

:Since Angolmois Energy is Unicron's energy, fans who did not understand the Japanese dialogue simply misinterpreted the absorption of the Blentrons as if to say that they too were made up of Angolmois Energy, and that Unicron needed to absorb them to top off the last of his energy needed to complete his resurrection.

:In actuality, the three were absorbed because, in that moment, Unicron had been significantly weakened and needed to replenish his health. Otherwise, he would have been destroyed by Big Convoy's Mammoth Dynamite attack, which almost completely dissipated Unicron's energy body. 

:The series didn't actually give any kind of backstory for the Blentrons. While they were creations of Unicron in the manga, no such origin was given in the show. Regardless, the idea of the three being made out of Angolmois Energy was certainly never stated or even suggested, having been born out of this misinterpretation of Unicron absorbing them to save his own life.
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====''Beast Machines''====
*'''A ''Beast Machines'' writer said, "Real heroes don't use guns."'''
:''Beast Machines'' was the first (but not the last) ''Transformers'' series to explicitly avoid all hand-held projectile [[weapon]]ry. While the [[Vehicon (BM)|villains]] still had traditional "blasters" mounted on their bodies, some of the [[Maximal|heroes]]' weapons were more esoteric (such as [[Blackarachnia (BW)|Blackarachnia]]'s energy-web attack, activated by putting her hands on the ground, or [[Optimus Primal (BW)/Beast Wars cartoon continuity|Optimus Primal]]'s gauntlets, powered by absorbing enemy fire). According to story editor [[Bob Skir]], this creative decision was agreed upon between the story editors, [[Fox Kids]], [[Mainframe Entertainment]], and [[Hasbro]],<ref name="Skir">[http://web.archive.org/web/20080222040119/http://bigbot.com/beast-machines-transformers-bob-skir/Beast-Machines-FAQ/Sat_06_Nov_1999.html Archived Q&A from Bob Skir's now-defunct website,] where Skir responds to the gun controversy (question 7).</ref> and it is indeed reflected in the toys as well. 

:Note that many Maximals had weaponry that was functionally no different from a "gun"—compare [[Botanica (BM)|Botanica]]'s hip-mounted energy cannons, [[Nightscream (BM)|Nightscream]]'s back-mounted sonic blaster, or Optimus Primal's chest-mounted energy disc launcher to [[Jetstorm (BM)|Jetstorm]]'s shoulder-mounted ray guns or [[Strika (BM)|Strika]]'s wrist-mounted energy... tossing thingies. 

:On his website, Skir also elaborated on his own position as a writer choosing if or how to portray gun use, including this statement: "Our heroes use their wiles and resourcefulness, plus a few cool weapons. Guns? I've never been a fan of them myself, and do not write heroes who need them."<ref>[http://members.aol.com/zobovor/guns.html Article on the fan Dave "Zobovor" Edwards' personal site,] quoting Bob Skir's original gun statement.</ref> Some fans interpreted Skir as condemning ''all'' gun use, even in the real world, no matter the circumstances. This led to the misquote, "Real heroes don't use guns,"<ref>[http://groups.google.com/group/alt.toys.transformers/browse_thread/thread/be5e55a90df944bb/b748601b997b3508#b748601b997b3508 Alt.toys.transformers thread] with the misquote and attendant assumptions right at the start.</ref> which remains a notoriously persistent error in the fandom. Skir, responding to the controversy, said on his site that "there '''are''' heroes who '''do''' need guns (such as the [[Punisher]]). Spider-Man doesn't need guns. Neither does the [[Hulk]]. And neither do Optimus, Cheetor, Black Arachnia{{sic}}, et al."<ref name="Skir" />

:Notably, the [[Transformers: Robots in Disguise (2001 franchise)|series]] [[Unicron Trilogy continuity family|immediately]] [[Movie (franchise)|following]] ''Beast Machines'' did return to classic hand-held gun use among both heroes and villains. However, the later ''[[Transformers Animated (franchise)|Animated]]'' series once again eschewed guns, probably because of its younger target audience.
{{-}}

==2001 ''Robots in Disguise'' misconceptions==
===Toys===
[[File:TF-Car-Robots-Logo.png|thumb|upright=0.7|right|Do you see a "2000" anywhere in this logo?]]
*'''The ''Robots in Disguise'' toyline was known as "Transformers 2000" in Japan.'''
:As information about the then-new [[Transformers: Robots in Disguise (2001 toyline)|''Car Robots'' toyline]] began to trickle out of Japan in 2000, early rumors purportedly from Japanese sources indicated that it was officially named "Transformers 2000".<ref name="Transformers 2000">http://groups.google.com/group/alt.toys.transformers/browse_frm/thread/e6436b92178f0c0a</ref> It's possible those Japanese sources were also going by early, inaccurate rumors or perhaps a soon-to-be-discarded working title for the line. The idea persisted with many Western fans well after the true name of the show was revealed, encouraged by online import retailers (who were equally misinformed) using the title to promote pre-orders on their sites.
{{-}}

*'''''Robots in Disguise'' Side Burn was so complex, the toy's designer later apologized.'''
:Basically. [[Transformers: Robots in Disguise (2001 toyline)|''Car Robots'']] [[Side Burn (RID)|Speedbreaker]] was the first ''Transformers'' toy designed by [[Hironori Kobayashi]], and it kind of shows. In a later interview, he admitted that the development process was a "painful experience" and an "admonition" to do better in the future.<ref name="Translated interview at ToyboxDX">http://toyboxdx.com/phorum/read.php?3,97799,97800</ref>
{{--}}

===Fiction===
*'''Unlike the English version, Gigatron (Megatron) has multiple personalities, a different one for each of his modes.'''
:This seems to have arisen from how, in the Japanese version, Gigatron's bat and dragon modes each have their own unique-sounding voice and way of speaking. The Gigabat voice is higher-pitched, a bit dim-sounding, and speaks like how older people used to speak during Japan's Edo period, ending most of its dialogue with "deansu" (であんす). For the Gigadragon mode, Gigatron speaks with a much deeper, angrier, and overall more aggressive-sounding voice. Both of these differ from his much calmer and more "normal" sounding voice in robot mode (which he also used in each of his other modes), and are most noticeable in the first episode, in which Gigatron makes heavy use of both his Gigabat and Gigadragon modes.

:By contrast, the English ''Robots in Disguise'' version gave Megatron one voice for all of his modes, and rewrote his personality to be much more theatrical and ill-tempered. This in turn made his English voice sound like a combination of the two unique Japanese voices, combining the over-the-top aspects of the Gigabat voice with the seething aggression of the Gigadragon voice.
{{-}}

==Live-action film series misconceptions==
====''Transformers'' (2007)====
[[File:Japaneseflowchart.jpg|upright=1.67|thumb|Look! No 2007 movie!]]
*'''The movie series takes place in the Generation 1 timeline in Japan.'''
: This is another one of those instances where one TakaraTomy thing, very early in the life cycle of a new ''Transformers'' [[franchise]], will say one thing about said franchise, and then literally ''everything else ever'' will say another.

: When the live-action movie series was getting started, TakaraTomy went live with their "World of Transformers" website. The website timeline appeared to make the rather bizarre claim that the 2007 live-action movie also somehow took place in the Japanese Generation 1 continuity, between ''The Transformers: The Movie'' and ''Transformers 2010'' in the year 2007. However, this was ''not'' reflected by the site's accompanying flow-chart, and was established to not be the case by the [[Source:Generation 1 cartoon timeline (Japan)|''Kiss Players'' timeline]] (which noted that the movie-verse Autobots and Decepticons came from another universe when they appeared in [[Transformers: Beast Wars Diorama Story|''Beast Wars Diorama Story'']]). And of course, nothing else ever attempted to make the connection.
{{-}}

*'''''Transformers'' was nearly rated R by the MPAA.'''
: In the spring of 2007, it was reported that ''{{w|Disturbia (film)|Disturbia}}'', a then-upcoming [[DreamWorks]] film starring [[Shia LaBeouf]] and produced by [[Steven Spielberg]], had received an R rating from the {{w|Motion Picture Association of America}}. That film's rating was eventually lowered to PG-13 on appeal, but in the meantime some ''Transformers'' fans became confused and believed that it was ''[[Transformers (film)|Transformers]]'' that had been rated R, leading to some heated discussion on ''Transformers'' message boards.
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[[File:MovieCreditsNoBrawl.jpg|upright=1.4|thumb|Invisible credit.]]
*'''Brawl is named in the credits.'''

: The Decepticon tank, who was named "Devastator" in a subtitle in the movie, ended up being named "[[Brawl (Movie)|Brawl]]" in [[Hasbro|Hasbro's]] [[Transformers (2007 toyline)|toy line]]. Both Hasbro and the screenwriters, [[Alex Kurtzman]] and [[Roberto Orci]], have expressly favored the toy's name, referring to the name in the movie as an "error".

: Since the character has a "speaking" line in the movie, some fans claim that the voice actor is named in the ending credits, and the character's name is stated as "Brawl" there. In fact, however, there's no credit ''at all'' for the character, under either name, as he has no voice actor, his "speaking role" being little more than echo-y electronic gibberish.
{{-}}

[[File:BanachekMustacheMan.jpg|upright=1.4|thumb|One of these is not like the others.]]
*'''The Decepticons' hologram is Tom Banachek.'''

: Several Decepticons in the movie are seen using a holographic "pilot"/"driver" based on the same short-haired, mustache-clad human with an intense stare, only wearing different clothes to match their respective [[alternate mode]]s. Since [[Tom Banachek]], the head of [[Sector Seven]]'s Advanced Research Division, also sports a mustache, a short-cropped hairstyle and a pretty intense stare, many fans mistakenly believe that the Decepticons' hologram is meant to look like him.

: There are two problems with that. One, the Decepticons' hologram, dubbed "[[Moustache Man]]" in the credits, is played by real-life United States Air Force Major [[Brian Reece]], whereas Tom Banachek is portrayed by established actor [[Michael O'Neill]].

:Two... how would the Decepticons know who Banachek even ''was'' to model a hologram after him?
{{-}}

====''Revenge of the Fallen''====
*'''Barricade's return?'''
:A common misconception among fans is that [[Barricade (Movie)|Barricade's]] Saleen Mustang alternate mode was spotted on the set of ''[[Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen (film)|Revenge of the Fallen]]'', possibly as part of the alleged "disinformation campaign" director [[Michael Bay]] repeatedly insisted he had initiated. In fact, however, a truck transporting three "Barricade" prop vehicles was spotted in Culver City, California, in March 2008, more than ''two months'' before principal shooting for ''Revenge of the Fallen'' started.<ref name="vehspotted">[http://www.superherohype.com/news/transformersnews.php?id=6980 Superhero Hype reporting on the spotting of Barricade vehicles in March 2008]</ref> There's been no indication that this had any significance other than moving the prop cars... someplace. Barricade would not make his reappearance until the ''next'' movie, ''[[Transformers: Dark of the Moon (film)|Dark of the Moon]]''.

*'''Decepticon [blank space] popsicle!'''
[[File:ROTF Skids Mudflap popsicle.jpg|thumb|upright=1.0|right|Our ice cream is uncensored.]]
:This rumor claims that a censored version of ''Revenge of the Fallen'' exists in which the rude "[[File:Symbol decept reg.png|15px]] suck my popsicle!" decal on the side of [[Skids (ROTF)|Skids]] and [[Mudflap (ROTF)|Mudflap]]'s ice cream truck [[alternate mode]] is edited to remove the words "suck my", resulting in the somewhat nonsensical version "[[File:Symbol decept reg.png|15px]] &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;popsicle!" This version was supposedly shown in some theaters in several countries, even though other theaters in the those very same markets apparently showed the "uncensored" version.<ref name="popsicle">[https://www.tfw2005.com/boards/threads/decepticon-popsicle.254257/ Contemporary discussion] of the allegedly "censored" decal on the ice cream truck seen in ''Revenge of the Fallen'' at TFW2005.</ref>

:In reality, the most likely explanation for this is much more mundane: Whereas the Decepticon insignia and the word "popsicle" are both rendered in white, resulting in a high color contrast with the dark background of the decal, the words "suck my" are instead kept in dark red. Depending on the specific brightness and color contrast settings of a particular theater, this, combined with the overall darkness of the scene (which was shot "day for night"), could easily lead to those two words becoming pretty much "invisible" by pure coincidence, with no actual intention of "censorship" behind it.
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====''Dark of the Moon''====
*'''Optimus Prime let the Decepticons take over Chicago.'''
:Given the comparatively darker tone—and a decidedly more ruthless interpretation of [[Optimus Prime (Movie)|Optimus Prime]]—of the first five live-action films when compared to the majority of the ''Transformers'' franchise, one common criticism of ''Dark of the Moon'' was Prime's apparent complacency in the face of the Decepticon attack on [[Chicago]] after the destruction of the ''[[Xantium (DOTM)|Xantium]]''—sometimes interpreted by some fans and critics as him "teaching Earth a lesson" after humanity unanimously agrees to exile Prime's Autobots in the hopes of appeasing [[Sentinel Prime (ROTF)|Sentinel Prime]] and [[Megatron (Movie)|Megatron]]. This reading of the film seems to misinterpret Prime's line of "now your leaders will understand" and "we needed them to believe that we had gone" as Prime having engineered the entire crisis for his own political gain; the second line assuredly refers to the ''Decepticons'', as Optimus and company faking their deaths allowed the heroes to sneak to Chicago and catch Megatron's forces by surprise. Even without the script, Cape Canaveral and Chicago are ''very'' far apart; if we assume that the Autobots hightailed it to Chicago seconds after splashing down in the Atlantic, it would ''still'' take them about eighteen hours to get there, a time discrepancy that more or less matches up with the way events play out onscreen.
{{-}}

====''Bumblebee''====
*'''Bumblebee is a reboot, and is separate from the rest of the "Bayverse"'''.
: ''[[Bumblebee (film)|Bumblebee]]'' was initially conceived as a straight prequel to the ''Transformers'' films, chronologically falling between the [[World War II]] flashback sequences seen in ''[[Transformers: The Last Knight (film)|The Last Knight]]'' and the 2007 ''Transformers'' film. However, the movie was hastily retooled relatively late into production, tweaking the film's opening to show Bumblebee arriving on Earth in the 1980s, and, as a result, became more-or-less irreconcilable with both the information given by the ''The Last Knight'' and the various prequel comics that had gone before. Likely due to a combination of wishful thinking and a potential wanting to move on from a ten year old continuity, members of the fandom and various mainstream nerd sites quickly jumped on the idea that ''Bumblebee'' was now a "reboot" of the film series as a whole, similar to the {{w|Marvel Cinematic Universe}}'s interpretation of [[Spider-Man]] vs. his prior two cinematic outings—though both [[Hasbro]] and [[Paramount Pictures]] have been fairly mum on just how ''Bumblebee'' and the five prior Bay films will fit together moving forward: the closest we've gotten to a conclusive answer is that the film represents the start of a "new storytelling universe," <ref>[https://www.cinemablend.com/news/2467064/looks-like-bumblebee-is-officially-the-start-of-a-new-transformers-movie-universe "Looks Like Bumblebee is Officially The Start Of A New Transformers Movie Universe]</ref> which is... a pretty ambiguous statement, to say the least. Other fiction, such as the ''[[Sector 7 Adventures: The Battle at Half Dome]]'' comic included with the home media release of the film, has continued to tie the events of ''Bumblebee'' to the rest of the live-action film series, suggesting Hasbro is at least maintaining its prequel status for now.

: This vaguery has only continued in the lead-up to ''[[Transformers: Rise of the Beasts]]'', with the only official statement being their desire to avoid the "timeline" of the first five films. This is almost certainly meant to refer to the time''frame'' of the preceding films' events, with ''Rise of the Beasts'' being yet another prequel story set before the 2007 film, rather than any kind of alternate timeline. Either way, for the moment, we're no closer to a definitive answer.
{{-}}

==''Animated'' misconceptions==
===Toys===
*'''Hasbro can't make new toys based on Animated characters without Cartoon Network's approval.'''
[[File:WMTheLegacyOfBumblebee.jpg|thumb|right|upright=1.2|This set should not be possible.]]
: While not rooted in any specific source, there has been a longstanding misconception that because they produced the cartoon and collaborated with Hasbro on the toy designs, [[Cartoon Network]] maintains partial (if not complete) ownership over the character designs in ''Transformers Animated'', and is thus the reason why no new toys of the characters have been released in years.

: In truth, Hasbro owns ''Animated'' lock, stock, and barrel. A quick glance at the legal jargon on the back of any ''Animated'' toy packaging will show Hasbro as the sole [[copyright]] holder listed. In fact, the only legalese mentioning Cartoon Network is the [[trademark]] for their own name and logo, due to printing "AS SEEN ON CN!" on the box. A handful of ''Animated'' toys were also released after the show ended via [[Fun Publications]], which also listed Hasbro as the sole copyright holder. Furthermore, toys of several ''Animated'' characters were also sold under different ''Transformers'' toylines concurrently with the ''Animated'' line itself, such as the [[Legends Class (2005)|Legends Class]] [[Optimus Prime (Animated)/toys#Universe (2008)|Optimus Prime]], [[Bumblebee (Animated)/toys#Universe (2008)|Bumblebee]], [[Prowl (Animated)#Universe (2008)|Prowl]] and [[Starscream (Animated)#Universe (2008)|Starscream]] sold under the [[Transformers: Universe (2008 toyline)|2008 ''Universe'' line]], or the Deluxe Class [[Bumblebee (Animated)/toys#Transformers (2007)|Bumblebee]] sold as part of the [[Transformers (2007 toyline)|2007 ''Transformers'' movie toyline]]'s "The Legacy of Bumblebee" three-pack. Again, Cartoon Network is mentioned nowhere on the packaging. Similarly, Cartoon Network goes unmentioned in the copyrights for other merchandise like DVDs and tie-in comics. In Japan, the [[Blackarachnia (Animated)#Toys|''Animated'' Blackarachnia toy]] was even retooled years after ''Animated'' ended to create the [[Blackarachnia (BW)/toys#Legends|''Legends'' toy for ''Beast Wars'' Blackarachnia]], again with no mention of Cartoon Network anywhere.

: The only place you'll find a Cartoon Network copyright is in the credits of the episodes themselves, but Hasbro appears to have long since bought out whatever rights Cartoon Network retained, hence their ability to freely upload ''Animated'' clips to their YouTube channels and make it available for streaming alongside their other ''Transformers'' cartoons on services like [[Tubi]] (very much unlike [[Transformers: Robots in Disguise (2001 cartoon)#Production|the one show we know they ''don't'' have all the rights to]]). And in either case, as mentioned above, it wouldn't prevent them from making new toys using those characters or designs. A much more likely explanation is Hasbro simply wanting new toys to fit a certain aesthetic, one that ''Animated''{{'}}s designs don't quite fit. So instead, they simply choose to adapt the characters to fit the new medium, such as with [[Bulkhead (Prime)|''Prime'' Bulkhead]] or [[Clobber (Cyberverse)|''Cyberverse'' Clobber]]. The most overt case of this is the [[2015]] Japanese release of the [[Slipstream (Animated)#Legends|''Legends'' Slipstream toy]], retooled by TakaraTomy from the non-''Animated'' [[Windblade (G1)#Generations|''Generations'' Windblade toy]] to be more ''Animated''-like, and ''explicitly'' spelled out to be the ''Animated'' character via the [[Legends Comic: Bonus Edition Vol. 16|accompanying issue]] of the [[Transformers Legends (comic)|''Legends'' comic]], which itself likewise featured multiple cameos by ''Animated'' characters.

: At [[San Diego Comic-Con]] 2022, Hasbro designer [[Evan Brooks]] finally put the misconception to rest for good, confirming that any rumors of ''Animated'' characters not being available for Hasbro's use are incorrect, and that Hasbro has all rights to all Transformers characters.<ref name="evansdcc">[https://news.tfw2005.com/2022/07/25/sdcc-hasbro-kotobukiya-show-floor-qa-461912 "SDCC Hasbro & Kotobukiya Show Floor Q&A"] at TFW2005</ref> So basically, there's nothing stopping them from making new toys based on ''Animated'' characters if they wanted to...they just don't want to. 
{{-}}

===Fiction===
*'''The Japanese dub of ''Transformers Animated'' presents it as a prequel to the live-action movies.'''

: This appears to have ''some'' basis: back in March 2010, the then-recent edition of ''[[TV Magazine]]'' published some early pre-release information about the Japanese dub of the [[Transformers Animated (cartoon)|''Animated'' cartoon]]. Among the details announced was the name-change of [[Bulkhead (Animated)|Bulkhead]] to "Ironhide", and changing his character to be closer in personality to [[Ironhide (Movie)|Ironhide]] from the [[live-action film series|live-action movies]]. The article allegedly also claimed that because [[Optimus Prime (Animated)|Optimus Prime]] was not Supreme Commander of the Autobots in ''Animated'', the cartoon would be "set chronologically before the live action movies".<ref name="tvmagani">[http://www.tfw2005.com/transformers-news/animated-8/latest-edition-of-tv-magazine-reveals-new-transformers-animated-japan-details-169265/ TFW2005 reporting on ''TV Magazine'' article about the Japanese dub of the ''Transformers Animated'' cartoon], March 2010.</ref>

: In actuality, however, not much of this has been reflected in the dub itself: aside from the aforementioned renaming of Bulkhead into "Ironhide", there's nothing in the Japanese dub that ties the ''Animated'' cartoon any closer to the live-action movies than its American counterpart.

: TakaraTomy chose to use the movie-style branding for ''Animated'' products, rendering the "Transformers Animated" logo in the gray steel look used for the movies.

{{-}}

==Aligned Continuity misconceptions==
===Toys===
*'''''Transformers: Prime'' was not initially planned to have any toys.'''
:The [[Transformers: Prime (toyline)|toy line]] for ''[[Transformers: Prime (franchise)|Transformers: Prime]]'' was ''very'' delayed, debuting roughly a year after the associated cartoon had premiered. Previously, at a [[BotCon 2010]] panel about the then-upcoming ''Prime'' cartoon, a Hasbro representative had made a statement that they weren't talking about toys just then. ''Transformers'' fandom being [[Red Alert (G1)|what]] [[Breakdown (G1)|it is]], a widespread belief developed that Hasbro was never going to make ''Prime'' toys ''at all.'' As additional information gradually surfaced, this evolved into a rumor that ''Prime'' would only have a small number of toys, with some further speculating that they would also be limited to the Deluxe [[size class]] (since initially only Deluxes had been seen). The eventual revelation of a full ''Prime'' toyline caused the belief to evolve once more, with the new theory being that there wasn't ''originally'' going to be a ''Prime'' toyline, but Hasbro changed their minds due to demand.

:The reality, as usual, was much less apocalyptic. The statement from the Hasbro Studios panel was never intended to refer to anything except the panel itself—the people ''in that room'' weren't going to be discussing toys ''at that panel''. (In fact, [[Eric Siebenaler]] expressed excitement about [[Bulkhead (Prime)|Bulkhead]]'s toy at the very same panel.) As for the delay in the line's launch, put simply, this was for appearance's sake. Hasbro wanted to establish ''Prime'' as a strong ''fictional'' franchise, rather than merely [[To sell toys|a glorified toy commercial]], and reasonably concluded that launching a toyline immediately would detract from that goal. There ''was'' a point when a few ''Prime'' toys were planned to be released under the ''[[Transformers: Generations (toyline)|Transformers: Generations]]'' banner, but since ''Generations'' was at that time exclusively Deluxes, the aforementioned Bulkhead (a Voyager) indicates that this idea had already been abandoned when the rumors started.

:In short, this is just a matter of fans jumping to conclusions based on misinterpreted statements.
{{-}}

===Fiction===
*'''The High Moon Studios games are part of G1.'''
{{quote|We really did look very closely at Generation 1 stuff and tried to capture what for us was the essence of the characters.|[[Sean Miller]], Director Character and Animation|[http://www.gameinformer.com/b/features/archive/2009/12/21/transformers-art-video.aspx Gameinformer interview]}}
[[File:FOC-GameInformerPrimeBumblebee.jpg|right|thumb|upright=1.1|It's the prequel to that version of G1 which never existed!]]
:With its designs aiming at a video gamer audience who grew up with [[The Transformers (franchise)|Generation 1]], the development team for ''[[Transformers: War for Cybertron (360/PS3/PC)|War for Cybertron]]'' took a great deal of inspiration from the [[The Transformers (cartoon)|original cartoon]] for such things as characters and the design aesthetic for [[Cybertron (planet)|Cybertron]].<ref>[http://www.gameinformer.com/b/features/archive/2009/12/21/transformers-art-video.aspx Gameinformer interview]</ref> A [[Commercial#War for Cybertron|commercial]] even depicted Shockwave ordering Soundwave to play [[The Touch|a song]] made famous by the [[The Transformers: The Movie|original animated movie]]. Furthermore, War for Cybertron toys were sold as part of the ''[[Transformers: Generations (toyline)|Generations]]'' toyline that featured Generation 1-styled characters. These factors led many to believe the game was actually part of Generation 1.

:To be fair, there was and is virtually no information available to the average fan that ''War for Cybertron'' is not part of Generation 1. Hasbro essentially folded ''War for Cybertron'' into the [[aligned continuity family|aligned continuity]], and informed dedicated fans of this fact through [[Hasbro Q&A|question and answer sessions]].<ref>"The official story of the original 13 and specifically Alpha Trion has not been explored fully in the modern continuity that Transformers War for Cybertron, Exodus, and Prime are a part of." [[Hasbro Q&A/September 2010: Answers]]</ref> The [[Transformers: War for Cybertron (comic)|''War for Cybertron'' comic adaptation]] and [http://www.hasbro.com/transformers/en_US/play/details.cfm?guid=7fd5ecd9-19b9-f369-1041-a7635be83172 online timeline] actually are adaptations from ''[[Transformers: Exodus]]'', which is the basis for the new modern continuity fiction.

:Canonically, both WfC and its sequel ''Fall of Cybertron'' are in the Aligned continuity, but beyond suggestions and mandatory changes from Hasbro, High Moon Studios didn't seem to care about Hasbro's declarations of canon. In the art book for the sequel to WfC, ''[[The Art of Transformers: Fall of Cybertron]]'', the only influences of the concept art and designs mentioned are G1 related. Dreamwave, the original cartoon, and other concepts and ideas from Generation 1 are cited, but the fact that Cliffjumper's head is based off of ''Prime'' Cliffjumper's is not mentioned, nor are the modifications to Optimus Prime's gun, Megatron's new body, [[Tox-En]], or the other assorted influences from ''Prime''. 

:[[High Moon Studios]] often described the games as prequels to the G1 cartoon. More savvy fans would recognize that the game is generally irreconcilable with the cartoon (or any other Generation 1 continuity for that matter): the circumstances of [[Optimus Prime (WFC)|Optimus Prime]]'s rise to power would contradict "[[War Dawn (episode)|War Dawn]]", and Optimus's [[Sentinel Zeta Prime|predecessor]] does not possess the Matrix, unlike his [[Sentinel Prime (G1)#The Transformers cartoon|cartoon counterpart]]. The Autobots left Cybertron because the [[Core]] shut down, not because energy sources were depleted, and characters like [[Jetfire (WFC)|Jetfire]], [[Breakdown (WFC)|Breakdown]], [[Cyclonus (WFC)|Cyclonus]], the [[Aerialbot (WFC)|Aerialbots]], and [[Trypticon (WFC)|Trypticon]] wouldn't be on Cybertron or even ''exist''. Additionally, the game draws inspiration from other continuities, including characters not from Generation 1 like [[Slipstream (WFC)|Slipstream]] and [[Demolishor (WFC)|Demolishor]]. The game does share a lot of similarities with Dreamwave's ''[[War Within (franchise)|War Within]]'' series (where Jetfire and Trypticon are present), but it cannot take place in that continuity either.
{{-}}

==Companies==
===Marvel Comics===
*'''John Romita designed the Generation 1 character models.'''
:The rumor here comes about through a misreading of the credits to ''[[The Transformers Universe]]''. Legendary Marvel Comics artist John Romita, Sr. was listed as "Art Director", leading readers to assume that he was in charge of designing or developing the various [[character model]]s used in the series (and reprinted in said comic). However, Romita was actually the Art Director for Marvel Comics as a whole at the time. The majority of the character models were in fact done by [[Floro Dery]], who went uncredited.<ref>See [http://goodcomics.comicbookresources.com/2007/01/11/comic-book-urban-legends-revealed-85/ Comic Book Urban Legends Revealed] for more information.</ref>

===TakaraTomy===
*'''Takara was taken over by Tomy.'''
[[File:Takaratomy.jpg|thumb|upright=1.0|We are one.]]
:In 2005, it was announced that Takara, longtime Japanese manufacturer/distributor of Transformers toys, and former competitor Tomy would merge into a new company, named [[TakaraTomy]], as of [[March 1]], 2006. Some fans misinterpreted the media coverage, believing that Takara had been bought out by rival Tomy. This was not helped by official press releases declaring Tomy the "surviving company", Tomy having the majority of shares, and the merged company simply going by the name "Tomy" outside Japan.

:The name issue is easily explained, as it was done for purely pragmatic reasons. "Tomy" is an internationally established brand, since the company already had divisions in many other countries prior to the merger, and distributed their toys under their own name there. Takara, meanwhile, had mostly abandoned its ventures into international markets years ago, and had its products distributed through other companies (such as [[Hasbro]]) instead. Therefore, the merged company decided to use the better-known name for its international business, while it would continue as "TakaraTomy" within Japan itself.

:Now, as for the specifics of the merger... Although the merger ratio was set at 0.356 of a Tomy share for each Takara share (including a split of Tomy's stock), and the companies announced a layoff of 15% of their combined workforce mostly on the Takara side, the term "merger" (as compared to "take-over") was prominently used in all the official announcements by the two companies, and twisting tiny details into a de facto "takeover" of Takara by Tomy is effectively splitting hairs.
{{-}}

*'''e-Hobby is owned by Takara (TakaraTomy).'''
:The [[e-HOBBY]] shop is owned by Part One, Ltd. Although the company has had close ties with Takara for decades, the online store also sells toys by other companies, primarily TakaraTomy's rival [[Bandai]].

:The online store ''directly'' owned by TakaraTomy, meanwhile, is [[TakaraTomy Mall]] (formerly Toy Hobby Market).

===IDW Publishing===
*'''Hasbro pays IDW to publish comics for them, and profit directly from the comics selling well.'''
:Presumably stemming from the fact that most Transformers ''cartoons'' are commissioned by Hasbro in order to advertise their toys, a lot of fans are under the impression that Hasbro pays IDW Publishing and other licensees to produce ''Transformers'' comics for them. This is the exact opposite of how licensed comics work; IDW pays Hasbro for the privilege of publishing ''Transformers'' comics, and IDW keeps all the profits outside of that licensing fee. As such, Hasbro doesn't have any particular investment in the comics selling well, other than their indirect effects on toy sales and potential negative press caused by "failing" comics; all that matters to Hasbro is that they sell well enough that IDW keep paying for the license.

*'''The [[Hasbro Universe]] was pushed on IDW by Hasbro.'''
:While Hasbro is mostly hands-off with IDW's comics, one of the terms of the license is that IDW needs to work with Hasbro to do [[To sell toys|occasional promotion]] for new and upcoming toys; this most obviously took place with events such as [[Dark Cybertron (IDW)|Dark Cybertron]], [[Combiner Wars (comic)|Combiner Wars]] and [[Titans Return (comic)|Titans Return]] — and, if we're being honest, has resulted in some of the less popular arcs from "phase 2" of IDW.<ref>[[James Roberts]] has apologised on multiple occasions for Dark Cybertron, which says a lot.</ref> As such, when IDW announced that they were bringing [[G.I. Joe (franchise)|several]] [[Rom|other]] [[Action Man|Hasbro-]][[M.A.S.K. (franchise)|owned]] [[Micronauts|franchises]] into their [[2005 IDW continuity|acclaimed Transformers universe]], a lot of fans assumed that this was the result of another Hasbro mandate, especially given their stated desire to have a "Transformers {{w|Marvel Cinematic Universe|Cinematic Universe}}." It also bore a startling resemblance to the shuttered plans to use the [[Aligned continuity family]] to launch a shared universe, even sharing the name of [[Unit:E]]. However, the creative teams involved were open from the start about the decision being an internal one that IDW had to ask Hasbro for permission to do.

:Reportedly, the decision stemmed from IDW obtaining multiple additional Hasbro licenses, and [[Chris Ryall]] and [[Christos Gage]] suggesting that G.I. Joe appear in their ''ROM'' comic; this led to [[John Barber]] bringing up [[Andrew Griffith]]'s suggestion that IDW's ''G.I. Joe'' universe could fit "between" big ''Transformers'' events, which led to all of them suggesting to [[Cullen Bunn]] that the Earth that the [[Micronaut]]s visited be the ''ROM''/''Transformers''/''G.I. Joe'' one... and, well, it all spiralled from there. Hasbro were apparently very on board with the idea, but it was far from something that they pushed onto unwilling creators.

*'''The Hasbro Universe comics are responsible for the ending of the 2005 IDW continuity.'''
:Given that IDW announced that they were concluding their [[2005 IDW continuity|main continuity]] less than two years after the VERY controversial Hasbro Universe was first announced, a lot of fans were under the impression that the shared universe, and the relaunch of [[The Transformers: Robots in Disguise|''The Transformers'']] and [[The Transformers: More than Meets the Eye|''More than Meets the Eye'']] into ''[[Optimus Prime (comic)|Optimus Prime]]'' and [[The Transformers: Lost Light|''Lost Light'']], were responsible for tanking sales to the point that IDW decided that it would be more profitable to reboot.

:However, the reason that those titles were relaunched in the ''first'' place is that their sales were on an unsustainable downwards spiral; and, other than a brief sales spike for the [[Dissolution Part 1: Some Other Cybertron|first]] [[New Cybertron Part 1: To Walk Among the Chosen|issues]] of the relaunched series, the relaunch did pretty much nothing to the sales trends, which continued to decrease at the same level as they had from around the 51st issues to the relaunch.<ref>[https://www.allspark.com/forums/topic/670-general-comics-discussion/page-60#entry3661883 Sales chart of the Phase 2 IDW ongoings]</ref> While the Hasbro Universe titles generally didn't sell ''great'', they didn't affect the sales of the ongoing ''Transformers'' series.

*'''Chris Ryall was kicked out of IDW because he conspired to break Hasbro mandates.'''
:He ''really'' wasn't, guys. In fact, he was [http://hasbrouniverse.libsyn.com/interview-chris-ryall outright surprised by the idea that this was a rumor going around].
{{-}}

==References==
{{Reflist|2}}

==External links==
*[http://web.archive.org/web/20121116134912/http://tfarchive.com/creative/showentry.php?s=522 Ten popular but incorrect rumors about Japanese Transformers, retrieved November 16, 2012] (archived)


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